Seahawks' Playoff Hopes Could Hinge on Cardinals Rematch

The Seattle Seahawks have taken the NFC West lead, but they're not out of the woods yet.

Jon Alfano | 8 Hours Ago

Nov 24, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) shakes hands with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) following a Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

In this story:

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have won their past three games to take a surprising lead in the NFC West, but their work is far from over.

Obviously, the win streak comes as a very welcome turnaround from a rough mid-season stretch, in which the Seahawks lost five of six games following a 3-0 start. However, they're still only ahead by one game, and with five weeks left in the regular season, there's plenty of time for their rivals to catch up.

Possibly the biggest threat to take the division is the Arizona Cardinals, who play host to the Seahawks on Sunday looking to avenge their loss in Seattle two weeks earlier. That game gave Seattle the division lead, but this game is probably even more important.

According to the New York Times' playoff simulator, the Seahawks currently have a 42 percent chance to make the postseason despite leading the division. If they beat the Cardinals on Sunday, then their playoff chances jump all the way up to 70 percent. If they lose, though, their chances would drop down to just 20 percent.

At this point in the season, it's hard to find a single game that can impact a team's playoff chances that much, but such is the nature of the NFC West this season.

It makes sense why this game is so important, though. With a victory, the Seahawks would go up by two games over the Cardinals in the standings, and due to sweeping the season series, would basically have a three-game lead with just four weeks to go.

With a defeat, though, the two teams would be even in the standings and the head-to-head tiebreaker would be essentially meaningless since they split the series. The tiebreaker would then fall to divisional record, and Arizona would be 3-1 in NFC West play while Seattle would be 2-3.

Arizona has a significantly easier schedule down the stretch than Seattle does. The Cardinals don't face a team that currently has a winning record after Sunday, while the Seahawks face two back-to-back in the Green Bay Packers (9-3) and Minnesota Vikings (10-2).

Of course, there's still a lot of football left to be played even after this game, but if the Seahawks want to pull away from the pack, winning this game is an absolute must.