The bottom line is the Cardinals still control the division. The Rams lose to the Vikings and the Cardinals beat either the Lions or Colts In the background Mercury seated on a huge stack of paper. The mockery of this portrait refers to the cardinals fall and exile from Spain in December 1719. Around it a number of allegorical objects and figures. The Cardinals beat both the Lions and Colts Portrait of Cardinal Giulio Alberoni in an oval frame with edge lettering. The magic number will be reduced by one additional if: The magic number reduces by one for each Cardinals win or Rams loss. So the formula works like this for clinching: The Seahawks and 49ers games donвЂ™t matter because if the Cardinals win or the Rams lose, the common opponent tiebreaker doesnвЂ™t come into play.Д«ut if the Cardinals beat the Lions and Colts, or if the Rams lose to the Vikings and the Cardinals beat either the Lions or the Colts, then the CardinalsвЂ™ magic number will be reduced by one more because they will have clinched the common opponent record. The Cardinals have the Lions, Colts and Seahawks, while the Rams have the 49ers, Seahawks and Vikings. Thus far, the Cardinals are 8-1 in those games and the Rams are 6-3 with three games remaining. The Cardinals will have 12 games against common opponents - four against the Seahawks and 49ers, four against the teams in the NFC North and four against the teams in the AFC South. If the Cardinals lose to the Seahawks in Week 18 and the Rams beat both the Seahawks and 49ers, then the Cardinals would need to look to the next tiebreaker - common opponents. So if the Rams lose next weekend, even if the Cardinals were to lose to the Lions, their magic number would drop to two because of the RamsвЂ™ loss and clinching the division tiebreaker. A win by the Cardinals over the Seahawks in Week 18 or a loss by the Rams to either the Seahawks in Week 15 or the 49ers in Week 18 will take an extra game off the magic number. The Cardinals are 4-1 in the NFC West and the Rams are now 2-2. The Colts, meanwhile, will need to wait at least another week to punch their ticket. They are one good result away from their first postseason appearance since 2015 and the first since Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray joined forces in the desert. The Cardinals and Rams tied their season series, so the next tiebreaker is division record. The CardinalsвЂ™ magic number is down to one.

However, the Cardinals can also reduce their magic number by an additional one because of tiebreakers. Week 18 at home against the San Francisco 49ers Week 17 on the road against the Baltimore Ravens Week 16 on the road against the Minnesota Vikings

Cardinals magic number