How Sunday's Week 15 Slate Impacts Seahawks Playoff Odds

Losing four of their past five games, the Seattle Seahawks haven't done themselves any favors pursuing a playoff spot. But their chances of playing beyond Week 18 could be slightly bolstered by a few outcomes going their way while being idle on Sunday.

Following Thursday's disappointing 21-13 loss to the 49ers, the reeling Seahawks have lost four of their past five games, including three contests at Lumen Field. As a result, they currently sit outside of the top seven spots in the NFC playoff race and the NFC West title now is out of the question.

With that said, despite having only a 34 percent chance of making the postseason per FiveThirtyEight.com after Saturday's trio of games, Seattle could receive a boost if a few games fall in the team's favor on Sunday.

For 12s looking for games to monitor closely this weekend, none hold greater importance in regard to the Seahawks plummeting playoff chances than a looming NFC East rematch between the Giants and Commanders. Only a few weeks ago, the two teams tied, a result that now hurts the Seahawks with losses piling up.

Interestingly, a Giants loss would only improve the Seahawks chances of making the playoffs by one percent. A win by the Commanders would drop their odds from 34 percent to 33 percent, so the game doesn't carry much weight in the short term.

Having beaten New York at home earlier in the season, however, Seattle will be pulling for Washington to get the victory at home because it would hold the tiebreaker. While that outcome would push the Commanders further ahead of the Seahawks in the wild card standings, it would be create a pivotal sixth loss for the Giants with tough road contests remaining against the Vikings and Eagles in the final three weeks.

As far as other games of note, the red-hot Lions play the Jets on the road and if they improve to 7-7 on the season, the Seahawks will see a slight drop to a 30 percent chance of making the playoffs. If Detroit doesn't pick up a big road win, Seattle will jump back up to 35 percent and as high as 38 percent if New York loses as well.

Away from those two games, the Seahawks don't stand to gain or lose anything in the playoff hunt based on the results elsewhere around the league. Of course, coach Pete Carroll and his staff will closely be watching the Chiefs road game against the Texans to prepare for a must-win Week 16 matchup at Arrowhead Stadium on Christmas Eve.

With the margin for error near zero, at this point, that's all Seattle should be doing. A third straight loss would put the team under the .500 mark for the first time since a Week 5 loss at New Orleans and its playoff chances could sink as low as six percent depending on how other wild card contenders perform. They have to take care of their own business first and then worry about others helping their cause.

Nonetheless, the Seahawks should be cheering hard for the Commanders on Sunday with hopes of ending up in a situation where they have as many losses as the Giants by season's end. Advancing via tiebreaker in that scenario, that may be the most plausible road for them to get into the dance after failing to control their own destiny over the past month.

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