"Had the Rams finished 2nd, they'd face other second place teams in the crossover games ..."
That is true. But if the Rams finished 2nd they'd have two games against the 1st place team in their division and no division games against a 2nd place team.
Take a good look at the Rams and 49ers schedules:
Rams4 first place teams:
Eagles, Saints, Vikings, Chiefs
4 second place teams: Seahawks, Seahawks, Lions, Chargers
4 third place teams: Cardinals, Cardinals, Packers, Raiders
4 fourth place teams:
49ers, 49ers, Bears, Broncos
49ers4 first place teams:
Rams, Rams, Vikings, Chiefs
4 second place teams: Seahawks, Seahawks, Lions, Chargers
4 third place teams: Cardinals, Cardinals, Packers, Raiders
4 fourth place teams:
Giants, Buccaneers, Bears, Broncos
Their schedules are exactly the same except that they play each other twice and they have a couple crossover games that balance out the fact that they play each other twice. Here are those differences laid out:
Rams: Eagles, Saints, 49ers, 49ers
49ers: Rams, Rams, Giants, Buccaneers
One of them might have a tougher 4 games than the other - I don't really know - but it certainly isn't by design. In an alternate universe the Eagles and Saints could have won their divisions with 9-7 records and the Giants and Bucs could have finished last at 7-9. Or the Eagles and Saints could have both been 16-0 while the Giants and Bucs were 0-16. That level of schedule difference is unpredictable, but the overall balance of the schedules is a given.
AlbaNY_Ram
