Seahawks facing an almost must-win game vs. Minnesota

The Seattle Seahawks once again face a virtual must-win game this week. This time, the need to go on the road and beat a good Minnesota Vikings team. 

If it feels like the Seattle Seahawks are playing a lot of “must win” games this season, it is because they are. That is one of the issues that Seattle’s slow start to the season has created.

According to the New York Times playoff simulator, last Sunday’s game was of massive importance.

That was a week ago. The Seahawks won a shootout against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and kept their playoff hopes alive. This week’s game is actually even bigger.

Seattle’s currently playoff chances stands at 64 percent. That is different than the 72 percent that was predicted because not all the other games around the league went as planned.

The most notable of those results was that the Vikings won against Atlanta. That puts them back into the lead of the NFC North, putting Green Bay down in the Wild Card race. The Packers hold the tiebreaker over Seattle.

The NYT has Seattle’s playoff chances jump all the way to 84 percent with a win on Sunday. A loss drops Seattle’s chances all the way down to 40 percent. That is an even a larger swing than last week’s game.

The other important spect of this particular game is what it means for playoff seeding. With a win, Seattle will have the inside track on the No. 5 seed. A loss, and Seahawks are battling for a chance at the No. 6 seed.

While any playoff spot is important, the difference between the No. 5 and No. 6 seed is going to be huge this season. That’s the difference from having to play in Green Bay (or maybe Minnesota) and getting to play whichever mediocre NFC East team wins that terrible division.

A win this week sets the Seahawks up nicely for a good run passed the Wild Card round of the playoffs. A loss, and they face an uphill battle just to get into the post season tournament.