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Week 17 NFL Playoff Clinching Scenarios: What The Seahawks Need To Stay In NFC West Race

Breaking down the playoff scenarios for the NFC West ahead of Seattle’s Week 17 game in Chicago.

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After losing their last two games to fall out of first place in the NFC West, the Seahawks no longer control their own playoff destiny with two games left to play, but there are still ways they can make the postseason, depending on how the next two weeks play out.

The NFL put out its weekly playoff clinching scenarios on Tuesday, including the ways in which the Rams can clinch the division before they host the Seahawks in Week 18.

If the Rams (9-6), who host Arizona on Saturday night, win that game, they would clinch the NFC West with a Seahawks (8-7) loss or a tie.

If the Rams lose to the Cardinals, the Week 18 game between the Seahawks and Rams will be for the NFC West, regardless of if the Seahawks win or lose on Thursday. That's because, if both teams were to lose, the Seahawks would be a game behind the Rams going into Week 18, and if they were to win that game, they would win the tiebreaker of better NFC West record, again, assuming a Rams loss to the Cardinals.

If both the Rams and Seahawks win this week, however, it's not as simple, because in that scenario, a Seahawks Week 18 win would leave both teams with the same record, a head-to-head split, the same NFC West record, the same record in common games, and the same conference record. The fifth tiebreaker after all of that is strength of victory, and heading into Week 17, the Rams have the edge there, thanks largely to the fact that they have wins over the Bills and Vikings.

And thanks to that strength of victory lead, the Rams could clinch this week with a win even if the Seahawks also win, doing so if they get 3.5 or more wins from the Vikings (vs. Packers), Bills (vs. Jets), 49ers (vs. Lions), Commanders (vs. Falcons), Bengals (vs. Broncos) and Browns (vs. Dolphins).

So basically for the Seahawks, to still be in the NFC West race after Sunday, they need either a Cardinals win over the Rams, in which case Week 18 is for the division title no matter what, or if the Rams win Saturday, the Seahawks need to win, and they need four wins from Packers, Jets, Lions, Falcons, Broncos or Dolphins out of the above six games.

The Seattle Seahawks take on the Chicago Bears on Thursday, December 26, 2024 for Week 17 of the 2024 season. Kick off is set for 5:15 p.m. PT. Take a look back at some of their previous matchups.

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