Seattle Seahawks' Toughest Stretch That Will Make Or Break Season

The middle of the season will be a huge test for the Seattle Seahawks.

Nov 23, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Arik Armstead (91) sacks / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The Seattle Seahawks' schedule is finally out in the open, and like with every schedule release, there are several key points that fans quickly take notice of.

Divisional games, primetime games, the bye week and other factors are all important parts of the schedule to consider. However, what may be the most important part of the schedule above all of that is the toughest stretch of the season. Such stretches with multiple tough game strung together in a row can make or break an entire season, so fans always want to take note of them.

Obviously, there's no such thing as a freebie in the NFL, especially with Seattle playing in the gauntlet of the NFC West, and there's always a bit of projection looking towards a future schedule with teams changing so much year to year. However, there is one stretch of the schedule that is definitively the toughest with two matchups against the team's biggest rival.

Seahawks' Toughest Stretch

From Week 6 (Oct. 10 vs. San Francisco 49ers) through Week 11 (Nov. 17 at San Francisco 49ers)

After an early stretch that seems pretty manageable with six home games in the first nine, the Seahawks are thrown into the mid-season gauntlet.

This murderer's row begins in Week 6 with a home Thursday Night Football Game against the San Francisco 49ers, who are not only the defending NFC champions, but have won the last five matchups against Seattle with none of them being particularly close. The Seahawks then follow that up with a road game against the Atlanta Falcons and home games against the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams, none of which are easy matchups.

Seattle at least gets a bye in Week 10 for a breather, but after that is another game against San Francisco, this time on the road. So essentially, about a this rough mid-season stretch encompasses nearly a third of the Seahawks' total schedule.

Even after this gauntlet, it doesn't get much easier for Seattle. Yes, the two games against the Arizona Cardinals in three weeks could be a nice pick-me-up, but there's also a road game against the New York Jets in between them. After that, there's games against the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, and another matchup with the Rams to end the season, with the latter two contests being on the road.

All this is to say that if the Seahawks find themselves struggling in the middle of the season and/or do get off to a quality start as hoped, clawing back into the playoff hunt may be extremely difficult.