What's at stake in Sunday's showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks seems painfully obvious.

Both the Rams and Seahawks are 7-2 and tied atop the NFC West standings, two games ahead of the 49ers . The winner of Sunday's heavyweight fight at SoFi Stadium will hold a one-game lead in the division with seven weeks remaining.

The SportsLine Inside the Lines team and Projection Model say the importance of the Los Angeles-Seattle matchup goes well beyond that. In fact—even though there are still eight weeks left in the regular season and even though the Rams and Seahawks still are scheduled to square off in Week 16 in Seattle—the projection model makes the case Sunday's game is the de facto NFC West championship game.

Both Los Angeles and Seattle enter Week 11 with ro

See Full Page