Under normal circumstances, NFL teams don't come back from 16-point fourth-quarter deficits. That's especially true when facing one of the best teams in the NFL.

But Thursday night's game was anything but normal, and the Seahawks are showing again and again this season that they have something special going.

So when the Seahawks found themselves down 30-14 early in the fourth quarter, they didn't blink, not when the Rams scored the touchdown to take that lead, and not when, a few minutes later, Sam Darnold was intercepted in the red zone to give the Rams the ball back with 9:39 left with what at the time seemed like a comfortable lead.

What followed was a remarkable series of events that allowed the Seahawks to come back, tie the game at 30-30, then win it in overtime to improve to 12-3, clinching a playoff berth while taking over the top spot in the NFC Standings.

"Holy smokes, what a great football game," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "I mean, first of all, an incredibly electric atmosphere. Just an all-time great atmosphere shown by our 12s."

For the Seahawks to complete one of the most unlikely comebacks in franchise history—they were 0-172 when trailing by 16 or more points in the fourth quarter before Thursday—they had to do so many things right in the fourth quarter and overtime.

First, a defense that was struggling to stop Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Puka Nacua, got a three-and-out after Darnold's fourth-quarter interception. Rashid Shaheed then returned the ensuing punt 58-yards for a touchdown. Darnold hit Cooper Kupp for a 2-point conversion to make it an 8-point game, giving the Seahawks some life, but there was still a lot of work to do.

The defense got a three-and-out, and the offense responded with another touchdown, this one a 26-yard pass from Darnold to tight end AJ Barner. The Seahawks went for two again, and appeared to come up empty when Darnold's pass was tipped and landed incomplete, but upon review, it was determined that the pass was backwards, making it a fumble, and since running back Zach Charbonnet casually picked the loose ball up in the end zone, the Seahawks got the two points to tie the game.

Neither team could score again in regulation, and in overtime, the Rams got the ball first and put together another scoring drive, with Stafford hitting Nakua for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 37-30. That made it do-or-die time for the Seahawks, and Darnold and the offense stepped up again, driving 65-yards on nine plays, the last of them a four-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Rather than kick the extra point, setting up the possibility of a tie with only 3:13 left in overtime, the Seahawks went for two, and Darnold hit tight end Eric Saubert for the winning conversion, setting off a big celebration on the field and in the stands.

"It's those guys in there," Macdonald said of his team's comeback. "They decided that they were going to play a certain way and be the team that they talk about, and they back it up every day, every day. No matter the circumstance, they do it. Defensively, we were down guys. You know, they're moving the ball up and down the field. We're coming up with red zone stops and making adjustments and fighting our tails off, and then punt return team makes a huge play, offense starts -- I mean, that's who they are; it's the players.

"It's who we are. It's what we do. You know, you believe in who you are and then you keep doing it and keep proving it really to yourself, to our guys. They understand who they are, and then when it's time to put it on the line they're ready to go."

It could have been a natural reaction if the Seahawks had been deflated by that last turnover, their third of the game, and never recovered. And it would have been understandable if the defense, which was on the field for so much of the game, and which finished the game down three staring defensive backs, Coby Bryant, Riq Woolen and Nick Emmanwori, couldn't find the energy to finish strong.

But as linebacker Ernest Jones IV put it, "It's never over until zero-zero in the fourth quarter. If we got a chance and time is still running, we got a chance. So, it's never over."

So instead of packing it in and looking ahead to next week, Darnold and the offense rallied with two big touchdowns, and the defense that was struggling to stop the Rams for three quarters got a stop after stop in the fourth quarter to make the comeback a possibility.

"I think as a team it's just what we've done all season," said Darnold, who was 8 for 12 for 101 yards and two touchdowns after his second interception. "We're a very resilient, relentless group. We just continue to go. There is no quit. We're always going to continue to fight. There has been games where we have won by a lot and there has been games where it's been kind of like this.

Not necessarily like that, but just up and down, waves of emotion; kind of low and going back up, taking the lead, getting back down, and taking the lead in the end. So we can win in all facets. Again, I'm very proud of the guys in the locker room."

Added outside linebacker Boye Mafe, "It's great to see that no matter what, the team never flinches. I've said this before. I say it all the time. no matter what happens, no matter the situation, the team never flinches."