Here's the winning entry for the Rams' $100,000 schedule contest*
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters
Despite the monumental odds against us, we took a crack at predicting the Rams' 2014 schedule. Even though we forgot to submit an official entry for the $100,000 contest on the team website before the contest closed (hence the asterisk in the headline), we'll still have bragging rights when our predictions come true. Besides, it's probably only like $60,000 after taxes, anyway.
After painstakingly considering every factor we could imagine (all listed below) and then throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, here's what we came up with:
| Week | Opponent | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ARI | Sun, Sep 7 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 2 | @TB | Sun, Sep 14 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 3 | @SD | Sun, Sep 21 | 4:25 p.m. ET |
| 4 | DAL | Sun, Sep 28 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 5 | @PHI | Mon, Oct 6 | 8:40 p.m. ET |
| 6 | OAK | Sun, Oct 12 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 7 | SEA | Thu, Oct 16 | 8:25 p.m. ET |
| 8 | @KC | Sun, Oct 26 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 9 | @SF | Sun, Nov 2 | 4:05 p.m. ET |
| 10 | BYE | Sun, Nov 9 | |
| 11 | @ARI | Sun, Nov 16 | 4:05 p.m. ET |
| 12 | NYG | Sun, Nov 23 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 13 | DEN | Sun, Nov 30 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 14 | @WAS | Sun, Dec 7 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 15 | MIN | Sun, Dec 14 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| 16 | @SEA | Sun, Dec 21 | 4:25 p.m. ET |
| 17 | SF | Sun, Dec 28 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
Our rationale:
- Based on last year's schedule, we expect the Rams will get two prime-time games. One on Thursday night at home, and one on Monday night away.
- Weeks 8-10 on the NFL schedule feature the most teams on bye, so we're playing the percentages by giving the Rams a Week 10 bye. The Rams' bye has come between Weeks 9-11 in three of the past four seasons.
- Seattle is likely to host San Francisco, Dallas or Denver on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 1, ruling out those four teams as likely opponents for the Rams.
- Oakland plays in London in Week 4 and will get a bye the following week, ruling out a game vs. the Rams for Weeks 4-5.
- Dallas plays in London in Week 10 and will get a bye the following week, ruling out a game vs. the Rams for Weeks 10-11.
- The 49ers will not host a prime-time game at Levi's Stadium in 2014, meaning the Rams can't visit San Francisco in Week 17 in case the game is flexed.
- The NFL typically schedules divisional matchups in Week 17 (and often in Week 16, too).