Seahawks control Wild Card destiny

By Dan Viens | Nov 30, 2015

The Seattle Seahawks playoff scenarios are looking much more positive after their 39-30 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Seahawks have gotten a lot of help the last two weeks from other teams battling for the same wild card playoff spots they covet (thank you Atlanta!), but they helped themselves even more by getting past the Steelers 39-30 yesterday. The win finally got them over the .500 hump on the season, and got them back into the drivers seat in their postseason quest. If the playoffs started today they would be the 6th seed.

How things will unfold over the final five weeks of the regular season are nearly impossible to project, but ESPN does such a great job with their Playoff Machine that we can begin to see how things may begin to fall. And we can play, oh yes….. can we play! You see, the machine allows you to just plug in your own teams games, but how accurate is that going to be? The only way to truly see how the rest of the season potentially plays out is to pick every single other game remaining.

For all the teams…..

More from Seattle Seahawks News

So….. why the hell not? I went ahead and did it. I mean how tough can life really be? I’m sitting in a Starbucks on Alki Beach, on a beautiful sunny Seattle day, looking out over the Puget Sound while I think about football.

So let’s do this!!!!

First, lets take a look at how the rest of the NFC division races shook out, based on my picks:

NFC South: Carolina Panthers (16-0) *I just don’t see a game on the rest of their schedule they should lose*
NFC West: Arizona Cardinals (13-3)
NFC North: Green Bay Packers (9-7)
NFC East: New York Giants (8-8)

Now that we have a full template of results in place, we can manipulate the Seahawks results to see the different possible outcomes. Here’s how it looks:

WIN OUT, FINISH 11-5

RESULT: Make Playoffs

This is obviously the preferred scenario, right? They definitely control their own playoff destiny now. Win out and they make it as the 5th seed, and in this case they would travel to face the Giants at MetLife Stadium. The last Seahawk visit to that venue turned out OK didn’t it?

WIN NEXT 4, FINISH 10-6, LOSE FINAL GAME AT ARIZONA:

RESULT: Make Playoffs

This is a scenario I wanted to project, because it might just be the most likely. it’s possible Arizona will be playing for a bye, so they may not rest their key players. In this case, it doesn’t change a single thing. Having a playoff spot clinched before flying to the desert is something I could get behind.

FINISH 10-6 WITH LOSS TO ANYONE ELSE:

RESULT: Make Playoffs

This is where it gets interesting. Based on my picks, the Seahawks make the playoffs at 10-6 no matter who the sixth loss is to. However, if their 6th and final loss is this Sunday in Minnesota, it knocks the Bears out of the playoffs and the Packers down to the 6th seed. That takes the Vikings from out of the playoffs all the way to the 3rd seed as division winners.

The Seahawks would still travel to NY in this case, but you can see just how important this week’s game could be for the Vikings.

FINISH 9-7

RESULT: Make Playoffs

I’ve seen reports today that the odds of the Seahawks making the playoffs at 9-7 are difficult, but based on my complete game picks, I can’t find a single combination of 2 more losses that would leave Seattle on the outside looking in.

Next: Seahawks vs Vikings early betting line

BOTTOM LINE:

So based on the results I punched into the ESPN Playoff Machine, all the Seahawks need to do is win 3 of their last 5 games to make the playoffs. Keep in mind, 9-7 is no guarantee, as some of the games I picked could go the other way and negatively affect Seattle in the process.

In any case, things are looking up for the Seahawks in their quest of making it back to the playoffs.

Home/Seattle Seahawks News