Seahawks Playoff Scenarios: Dud vs. 49ers Put Seahawks In Tough Position To Clinch In Week 16

The Seattle Seahawks (8-6) laid an egg in Week 15 against the lowly San Francisco 49ers (4-10). Had the Seahawks won, they would have secured a playoff berth; instead, Seattle needs to beat one of the NFL’s elite teams and get help to punch their ticket in Week 16.

There are several scenarios that could play out this weekend that would give the Seahawks a playoff spot, but they need to either win or tie in all of them and hope another team loses. The easiest one would be for the Seahawks to beat the Kansas City Chiefs (11-3) and hope the Tennessee Titans (8-6) beat Washington (7-7).

Seattle is a slight home underdog, but Tennessee is a double-digit home favorite. If the Seahawks win and the Minnesota Vikings (7-6-1) lose on the road in Detroit, that would also do the trick.

If both Seattle and Washington win, Seattle can still clinch with a strength of victory tiebreaker. The same applies to a Seahawks win, a Vikings tie and a strength of victory tiebreaker.

The only scenario in which Seattle does not win and still gets in involves a tie. If the Seahawks and Chiefs tie, losses by Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles (7-7) would work.

As complex and daunting as all of that might seem, FiveThirtyEight’s calculations still give the Seahawks a 96 percent chance of making the playoffs.