Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll Ready For 'Championship Matchup' vs. Steelers

The Seattle Seahawks take on the Pittsburgh Steelers as they look to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Seattle Seahawks are coming off a stirring victory over the Tennessee Titans as Geno Smith led his fourth game-winning drive of the season to seal a 20-17 win.

But while the win was thrilling, Seattle must now build on that and take down the Pittsburgh Steelers to keep their playoff hopes alive. Mike Tomlin's team is coming off a 34-11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, snapping a three-game losing streak, so it won't be a walk in the park.

For Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, what is at stake in Week 17 for his team isn't getting lost - it's like a championship game.

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“Fortunately, we’re back here this week, working at it from a really good perspective about finishing up this season in a right note against a really good team that needs it as well as we do," Carroll said. "It’s a championship matchup for us, and fortunately we’re in that situation to see if we can generate another good ballgame and keep this thing moving along.

"We’re making some progress, we’re doing some things better, some things we continue to work on that we’ll try to get ironed out this week. Knowing that this club just came off a great victory over a division rival and played an amazing game, it’s going to be hard. That’s what we expect this time of year.”

Both teams sit at 8-7 and know that a win will greatly increase their chances of making the postseason, although the Steelers are coming from further back than Seattle.

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The Seahawks have stopped their four-game skid with back-to-back wins as it looks like Carroll's team has found their mojo again. With only two regular-season games remaining, the Seahawks will want to enter the postseason in good form and have "winnable" games to get things right.

Seattle was the "dark horse" for the Super Bowl during preseason, and while getting there might seem like a stretch right now, this is the NFL so never say never.

The playoffs often throw up crazy results, and the best team doesn't always win. It might just be who is best on the day and if the Seahawks enter with confidence gained from a good run-in, then a Seattle team firing on all cylinders isn't going to be an easy proposition.

But first, the Seahawks must get past the Steelers and win this "championship" match to punch their ticket to the playoffs.