The race to the No. 1 overall pick took a very interesting turn on Christmas eve.
The Browns have long been in the driver's seat for the No. 1 pick this season, but with Cleveland's win over the Chargers on Sunday, the Browns and 49ers now each have a win. They are the only two teams that have a chance to clinch the No. 1 overall pick -- the Jaguars (3-12) are out of the running after defeating the Titans on Sunday.
If the 49ers defeat or tie the Rams this afternoon, the Browns will find themselves in the lead for the top pick heading into Week 17. But if the 49ers lose, Cleveland and San Francisco will have identical 1-14 records heading into the season's final week.
As things currently stand, the 49ers would hold the edge in a tiebreaker scenario, since they have a lower strength of schedule percentage than the Browns (.513 to .546). In the event of a tie, the team with the lower SOS picks first.
Nothing has been clinched yet, but history might be repeating itself. In 1988, as NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt recounted earlier this week, it was the Packers playing the role of the Browns. Green Bay was in a similar position to the Browns going into the final two weeks, but it won its final two games, and the Cowboys ended up with No. 1 overall pick of the 1989 draft, which they spent on Troy Aikman.
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