NFL playoff picture: What does Seahawks-Bears mean for NFC standings?

Game results (Sunday night): The Seattle Seahawks have been eliminated from playoff contention. The Rams’ win over the Cardinals on Saturday night opened the door for Los Angeles to clinch the NFC West, and then the Rams got enough wins from results around the league to clinch the fifth tiebreaker over Seattle, and therefore the division title.

Game result: The Rams won on Saturday night, so Seattle can be eliminated in Week 17. Lots of games go into the tiebreaker win, so check out the info below.

Game result: In a ludicrous display, the Seattle Seahawks squeezed out a thrilling 6-3 win on Thursday night to prolong their playoff hopes. Seattle’s playoff hopes now hinge on Saturday and Sunday’s results. The biggest game is the Rams on Saturday.

Week 17 of the 2024 NFL season got off to an early start, with a pair of games featuring some of the top teams in the AFC. In the early game the Kansas City Chiefs knocked off the Pittsburgh Steelers by a final score of 29-10, while the Baltimore Ravens kept their AFC North dreams alive in the later game with a win over the Houston Texans.

The action continues Thursday, as the Seattle Seahawks travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears.

While Chicago has already been eliminated from the playoffs, the Seahawks can either keep their playoff hopes alive with a win, or be eliminated themselves depending on how tonight’s game unfolds.

A few weeks ago the Seahawks controlled their own playoff fate.

Now, their fate is largely out of their own control.

Seattle cannot clinch a playoff spot in Week 17, but they are facing elimination. Seattle would be eliminated from the playoffs if any of these scenarios happen:

The Bears have already been eliminated from the playoffs. At the moment, the Bears hold the ninth pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

With the Bears already eliminated from the playoffs, this game will not have tiebreaker implications for Chicago.

As for the Seahawks a win against Chicago would improve their conference record to 5-6. Why might this matter? There is a wild scenario where the NFC West title could get deep into the tie-breaking procedures, which we referenced earlier. Assume for a moment that Seattle wins against Chicago, and then again in Week 18 against the Los Angeles Rams. That would see Seattle finish at 10-7, with a 6-6 record in the NFC.

Then if the Rams win in Week 17 against the Arizona Cardinals, then lose to Seattle in Week 18, they too would finish at 10-7. That would also mean that the Seahawks and the Rams spilt their season series, kicking in an incredible set of tiebreakers.

In fact, we’ll just let the Seahawks’ team site explain this wild scenario:

If both the Rams and Seahawks win this week, however, it’s not as simple, because in that scenario, a Seahawks Week 18 win would leave both teams with the same record, a head-to-head split, the same NFC West record, the same record in common games, and the same conference record. The fifth tiebreaker after all of that is strength of victory, and heading into Week 17, the Rams have the edge there, thanks largely to the fact that they have wins over the Bills and Vikings.

And thanks to that strength of victory lead, the Rams could clinch this week with a win even if the Seahawks also win, doing so if they get 3.5 or more wins from the Vikings (vs. Packers), Bills (vs. Jets), 49ers (vs. Lions), Commanders (vs. Falcons), Bengals (vs. Broncos) and Browns (vs. Dolphins).

So basically for the Seahawks, to still be in the NFC West race after Sunday, they need either a Cardinals win over the Rams, in which case Week 18 is for the division title no matter what, or if the Rams win Saturday, the Seahawks need to win, and they need four wins from Packers, Jets, Lions, Falcons, Broncos or Dolphins out of the above six games.

Got it?

Good.