11-5?

If the Rams don’t get good coverage in the national press in 2015, it won’t be because Sports Illustrated doesn’t like them. The defensive line got a feature article and a Robert Quinn regional cover a couple of weeks ago, and in the 2015 NFL Preview, SI’s picking the Rams to go 11-5. Alas, even that is good for only the #6 seed in the NFC, and SI has the Rams losing at Seattle in the first round of the playoffs. (Seattle goes on to make their third straight Super Bowl, losing to Baltimore.)

It’s a flawed prediction in several ways. The prediction’s apparently by writer Greg Bedard. He also wrote many of the scouting reports, but not the Rams’, written by Joan Niesen, who says “predicting a playoff berth this season is a stretch”.  The Rams’ game-by-game predictions don’t make a lot of sense. The Rams will go 11-5 but lose at Washington, which SI predicts will go 3-13? In fact, SI says the Rams will start 11-3 and lose their last two division games on the road. Seattle? For sure. But if the Rams are going to go 11-5, they’re not losing at San Francisco with a playoff berth on the line. It’s about as weird a way to get to 11-5 as you could draw up. (The other two losses make sense: @ GB, @ Baltimore.)

As a Rams fan, heck yes, I would take this prediction, but it’s way beyond my expectations. I do feel the Rams have a strong shot at the playoffs IF they’re .500 or better at the time Todd Gurley becomes the starter. That’s my official prediction for the year.

-$-