Posted by Darren Urban on December 15, 2015 – 10:03 am

The Cardinals’ magic number to clinch the NFC West is one — as in, one win for the Cards, or one loss by the second-place Seahawks. That will make it impossible for the Seahawks to at least tie the Cardinals at the top of the division, since the Cards are 11-2 with three games left and the Seahawks are 8-5.

But what if that tie happened?

The tiebreakers within the division are carefully laid out. If the Cardinals were to lose out (a rap on the wrist for even suggesting such a thing!) and the Seahawks were to win out to create the tie, the teams would also tie in the first four tiebreakers: head-to-head, win-loss percentage in the division, win-loss percentage in common games, and win-loss percentage in conference games.

That brings the tiebreaker to strength of victory: The winning percentage of opponents each team has defeated during the season. And it is within that strength of victory tiebreaker that could have the Cardinals clinch Sunday even if they lose in Philadelphia and the Seahawks win.

(Something to keep in mind here: The Cardinals already are ahead by three games in strength of victory, so chances are, even with three games left and all the variables involved, they will own this tiebreaker at the end if needed. But the following is the opportunity for the clinch to happen this weekend.)

TIEBREAKERS: ARI clinches NFCW div: 1) ARI win/tie 2) SEA loss/tie 3) ARI clinches SOV over SEA w/CIN W + NO W + DAL L + PIT L — Joe Ferreira (@JoeNFL) December 15, 2015 So, assuming the NFC West isn’t clinched by a Cards’ win or Seattle loss, the Cards clinch if the Bengals win in San Francisco and the Saints win at home against Detroit and the Steelers lose at home against Denver and the Cowboys lose at home against the Jets. It’s not a far-fetched scenario. Something to keep in mind.

Tags: NFC West Posted in Blog