Seahawks' latest playoff update adds further sting to their dramatic defeat to the Vikings

The Seattle Seahawks have undoubtedly made progress in their first season under Mike MacDonald, but their hopes of ending in a playoff berth are on life support. Seattle dropped to 8-7 in Week 16 with a dramatic 27-24 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings. It means the Seahawks are now a game back of the NFC […]

Nicholas McGee
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Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) walks off the field after the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Lumen Field.
Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The Seattle Seahawks have undoubtedly made progress in their first season under Mike MacDonald, but their hopes of ending in a playoff berth are on life support.

Seattle dropped to 8-7 in Week 16 with a dramatic 27-24 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings.

It means the Seahawks are now a game back of the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams, who improved to 9-6 on Sunday with a 19-9 victory over the New York Jets.

With two games to play, that is a close to insurmountable deficit for the Seahawks, who are now facing an elimination scenario in Week 17.

The Seahawks face the Chicago Bears on Thursday and would be eliminated with a loss and a division-clinching win for the Rams on Saturday against the Arizona Cardinals. 

Should both teams win, then the Seahawks would still be eliminated as the Rams have a higher strength of victory than Seattle.

Essentially, Seattle needs to win and hope the eliminated Cardinals stun the Rams to set up a winner-take-all matchup for the division in Week 18 in Los Angeles.

The Athletic's playoff simulator gives the Seahawks just an 18 percent shot of making the playoffs, down from 29 percent before Week 16. 

What is even more jarring is to consider the situation the Seahawks found themselves in before Week 15, when they were 8-5 and in control of their own destiny. 

At that point, the Seahawks had a 59 percent shot to make the playoffs compared to 32 percent for the Rams. Successive defeats to the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings have flipped those odds around, and now a once promising season looks primed to end in disappointment. It will be the third time in four seasons that the Seahawks have missed the playoffs.

Seattle does not have a playoff win since 2019, and the odds of that changing are suddenly very slim. The defense in particular has taken steps forward under MacDonald, but it's set to be another year of what might have been for the Seahawks.

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