The Seattle Seahawks game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17 will not only determine the winner of the NFC West, it will have ramifications for multiple NFC teams and their seeding in the playoffs.
Fortunately for Seattle (and San Francisco) they will know exactly what they are playing for before their game, win or loss, by virtue of playing the final game of the regular season on Sunday night at 5:20 p.m. PT.
As of now, Seattle could still be as high as the No. 1 overall seed and as low as the No. 5 seed, depending on how the rest of their competition does next week.
Here is a look at how things will look in each potential playoff scenario for Seattle:
Seahawks get a one seed (and a first round bye): win vs. San Francisco + Green Bay loses to Detroit and New Orleans loses to Carolina.
Seahawks get a two seed (and a first round bye): win vs. San Francisco + Green Bay loses to Detroit and New Orleans beats Carolina.
Seahawks get a three seed: win vs. San Francisco + Green Bay wins (doesn’t matter what New Orleans does).
Seahawks get a five seed: lose to San Francisco (nothing else matters).
Seattle still has two opportunities to earn a first round bye, but they are both dependent on the 12-3 Packers losing on the road to the 3-11-1 Lions.
Otherwise, they’ll either end up with the three seed and a home date with the Vikings, (if they win) or on the road at either Philadelphia or Dallas if they lose.
