The Rams are a step closer to clinching a first-round bye.

They improved to 12-3 on the season with a comfortable 31-9 victory over the Cardinals in Arizona on Sunday afternoon. With the Bears beating the 49ers Los Angeles Rams Hats , they’ll need a win or a Bears loss to seal one of the top two seeds. Their bid for the top seed in the conference will remain alive as well if the Saints lose to the Steelers.It’s nothing new to see the Rams handle an opponent with ease this season, but the big offensive name on Sunday was a new one. Running back C.J. Anderson signed with the Rams this week, got the start with Todd Gurley sidelined by a knee injury and went off for 167 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.The Rams also got rushing touchdowns from Robert Woods and Jared Goff on their way to 269 rushing yards. Goff also threw a touchdown and avoided the interceptions that have plagued him since the team’s bye week.On defense, the big star was a more familiar part of the operation. Defensive tackle Aaron Donald had three sacks, which gives him 19.5 on the season. That’s a Rams record for a single season, a single-season record for defensive tackles and it leaves him three sacks away from Michael Strahan’s record for all players in a season.With the bye still up in the air Los Angeles Rams Womens Hoodie , it seems unlikely that the Rams will be resting players next Sunday. If Donald is on the field against the 49ers, his final push for that record should be a big Week 17 storyline.The biggest storyline for the Cardinals is likely to be the one regarding head coach Steve Wilks’ future. There have been indications that he could be done after his first season on the job, although wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald offered supportive words about Wilks this week.The veteran did his part on the field as well by throwing a touchdown and catching six passes for 53 yards. Fitzgerald said this week that he has “no clue” if this will be his final year and the home crowd showed him a lot of love during the losing effort.Why isn’t anyone taking the under on the Los Angeles Rams in 2018? There’s something strange going on with respect to how people view the 2018 Los Angeles Rams and I’m not just talking about the fact that for the first time in a long, long, long time, people actually expect us to win.It’s how much they expect us to win. And how nearly unanimous that expectation is.In our final staff predictions for the 2018 season Womens Customized Los Angeles Rams Jerseys , every single one of us had the Rams winning games in the double digits. Even more, an overwhelming majority (biased though we are) had us winning at least 13 games. In nearly every season preview that included a win-loss projection, the Rams were coming up with 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 wins.So it’s not limited just to inside our bubble. Everyone is looking at 10+ wins.Which is very, very, very strange since the over/under that was coming out of Vegas and online bookmakers was right around 9.5 or 10 wins. Which means that there’s money backing up the under.There just aren’t any voices saying so.This was Rich Hammond just yesterday:Why did Hammond take any heat for an 11-win season? The obvious answer is that Rams fans are overwhelmingly excited by the prospects of the 2018 season. But it’s also clear that they’re being incited by a national referendum on the Rams that has avoided even the possibility of ending up with single-digit wins.Consider this piece from Sports Illustrated’s Max Meyer, the only piece I’ve seen from the offseason that seriously considered taking the under (which is exactly what he does at 9.5 wins).On the coaching changes that saw former Rams Offensive Coordinator Matt LaFleur take the same job title www.ramsfootballauthentics.com , albeit with broader responsibilities, with the Tennessee Titans while the Rams’ 2017 quarterbacks coach, Greg Olson, took a promotion to become the OC with the Oakland Raiders:On the offensive line and field position:And the competitive balance of the NFC:Now look, I’m not about to change my 12-4 prediction or anything like that. Obviously, this isn’t a season to be necessarily hesitant to support. The starting roster is stacked. Last season was a blessing.But I find it unusually strange not that fans and media are excited about the Rams’ 2018 season Los Angeles Rams T-Shirt , but the near unanimity supporting the Rams this year.NFL seasons are, as last year proved yet again as they tend to every year, weird. They’re unpredictable. There are Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars teams that take a jump forward. There are Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans teams that looked set up for success that were felled by injury. And there were Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants and Oakland Raiders teams that just fell below the bar for various reasons.Which is why I find it so odd that nearly everyone...nearly EVERYONE is backing the Rams to manage the process, to navigate the weirdness successfully.It’s heartening, sure. But it’s also piling on to those lofty expectations that have been building since February.Buckle the hell up, Rams fans...