The Seattle Seahawks season, for all intents and purposes, is not yet over. The team still has a chance to make the playoffs, though its fate might be known by Saturday night. One thing is very clear and that is Seattle must basically win its final two games to have any possibility of making the postseason and hope the Arizona Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Rams in Week 17.
That starts with beating the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football in Week 17. A loss there and the Seahawks are done (or at least should be; who wants a team that loses to the Bears to go to the playoffs?). While Chicago does not have a very good record and they have lost nine straight. Many of those games have not been close. The issue is that for long-term Seahawks fans, that might make one nervous.
Seattle lost games under former head coach Pete Carroll that they should have won, and that was a reason the team did not make the playoffs in some recent seasons. The same has held true for the team under Mike Macdonald, though. Seattle's loss to the New York Giants in Week 5 (and the win was just one of two for New York this season) looms large. Had Seattle won that game, the rest of the season would look very different.
What are the scenarios in which the Seattle Seahawks can still make the playoffs?
Instead, Seattle has to win out while also hoping the Los Angeles Rams lose to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16. Seattle plays on Thursday, and the Rams and Cardinals play on Saturday. If LA beats Arizona then the Seahawks season is basically done. That is because, even if the Seahawks beat the Rams in Week 18, the teams will finish with the same record, but LA holds important tie-break scenarios.
One of those is the strength of schedule and victories. The Rams have a nine-game lead in that category, having beaten good teams while Seattle has only defeated one other team that currently has a winning record. Even at that, the Atlanta Falcons, who Seattle defeated in Week 7, are only 8-7. The Rams have beaten the Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills, and those teams have a combined 25-5 record.
In other words, if the Cardinals lose to the Rams then the Seahawks can start preparing for 2025 because Week 18 is moot. However, if Arizona wins and Seattle wins its last two games, the Seahawks would have a better record than Los Angeles and, therefore, win the NFC West and make the playoffs. If only Seattle had not lost to the Giants.