The Seattle Seahawks learned when they will be playing in Week 18 after Sunday's Week 17 games were done. Head coach Mike Macdonald's team already knew that it would be playing the San Francisco 49ers to end the season, just as the two teams met at the beginning of the season.
What Seattle didn't know was when they would take on the 49ers in a game that would ultimately determine the NFC West title and the top seed in the NFC playoffs. In other words, the game is one of the most important in the NFL season.
As it turns out, Seattle will travel to San Francisco, which the Seahawks already knew, to play on Saturday at 5 pm PT. This makes for a bit of a short week, but that is the case for both teams. Each played on Sunday. Still, it isn't like the teams are having to play on Thursday. That would be much worse.
Albert Breer speaks for many Seattle Seahawks fans in the NFL's Week 18 decision
There is a bit of a built-in advantage for the 49ers, though, which is almost accidental. San Francisco played at home in Week 17 and will be at home again in Week 18. The Seahawks, though, traveled across the country to play the Carolina Panthers in Week 17, and will fly back to Seattle, only to fly back out to Santa Clara and Levi's Stadium, home of the 49ers.
In that way, Seattle gets a bit screwed. Had the game been on Sunday, which was also a possibility, both teams would have had normal rest and the Seahawks one more day at home.
MMQB's Albert Breer might have summed up how many 12s feel that the Seattle Seahawks are traveling on a short week. He isn't wrong.
On X, Breer wrote, "This is kind of crappy for Seattle, to be honest. They're traveling back from the East Coast tonight, and then have to go on the road again on a short week to try and win their division and the 1 seed."
On the flip side, there are some potential positives for either the Seahawks or the 49ers. Whoever loses will have to begin the playoffs on the road in the Wild Card round. That will happen the week after Week 18, so the team that loses would have at least the same days of rest as a normal week and perhaps an extra day.
For the team that wins and has a bye week, as well as home-field advantage for as long as the team remains in the playoffs, there would likely be an extra day of rest. So, maybe Saturday at 5 pm PT isn't such a bad time for the game.
No matter when it was going to be held, though, Mike Macdonald knows how to prepare the Seattle Seahawks. In his two seasons as the head coach, Seattle is 14-2 on the road, second-best ever for a coach in their first two seasons on the job.