Each NFL playoff contender’s worst loss this season

NFC West

San Francisco 49ers: Week 10, vs. Seattle Seahawks

Everything has gone great for San Francisco this year, which is 11-2 and atop the NFC standings, but there is still a chance they could end up on the road throughout the playoffs. That comes thanks to their most crushing loss of the year, a home defeat to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 10 on Monday Night Football.

That game went to overtime, with Seattle winning on a field goal at the gun, and the two teams meet again in Seattle in Week 17. If the two teams are within a game of each other entering that matchup, a Seahawks’ victory would clinch the division, making that Week 10 defeat a killer.

Seattle Seahawks: Week 14, at Los Angeles Rams

The Seahawks have done a good job of avoiding bad losses for most of the year, but that trend ended in Week 14, when they got embarrassed in Los Angeles by the Rams. That defeat at least opened the possibility of Seattle losing the division or missing the postseason altogether, so it could be very damaging.

Los Angeles Rams: Week 4, vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Super Bowl hangover didn’t seem to bother the Rams early on as they raced to a 3-0 start. Everything fell apart for them in Week 4, when Tampa Bay flew across the country and put up 55 points on the Los Angeles defense to hand the Rams their first loss.

That effort from the Buccaneers sent things spiraling out of control for the Rams, who would go 3-4 over their next seven games to put themselves into a hole in the ultra-competitive NFC. The Rams are trying to dig their way out of that hole, to their credit, but the Bucs game may be the one that costs them a playoff spot.