Are the Seahawks eliminated from playoffs with loss to Bears?

NFL Week 17 kicked off on Christmas Day with a Kansas City Chiefs win over the Pittsburgh Steelers that saw them clinch the No. 1 spot in the AFC, followed by a Baltimore Ravens domination over the Houston Texans that kept them in the lead in the AFC North. The week continues with Thursday Night Football tonight, in a game that sees one team with a lot to play for.

The Seattle Seahawks play the Chicago Bears on the road tonight. The Bears were eliminated from playoff contention a while ago, but the Seahawks, at 8-7 and second in the NFC West, are technically still in the hunt.

The Seahawks' chances of making the 2024 playoffs: Week 17

Thanks to two back-to-back losses, the Seahawks are no longer in control of their own destiny where the 2024 postseason is concerned. At No. 9 in the NFC, their only way into the playoffs now is to win the NFC West division. They are currently one game behind the 9-6 Los Angeles Rams.

Experts are putting the Seahawks' chances at a playoff berth between 13 and 18 percent. What happens tonight and the rest of Week 17 will determine a lot in whether or not those chances go up or down, or disappear altogether.

Seahawks remaining schedule:

The Seahawks' easiest way into the playoffs is for the Rams to lose to the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday. If that happens, it would put the Rams at 9-7, and regardless of whether the Seahawks beat the Bears or not, it would put the Seahawks and Rams in a win-and-in scenario when they face each other in Week 18 as they would be playing for the NFC West crown. That’s because if the Seahawks and Rams both lose, it would put the Seahawks just one game behind the Rams in the division race. And if the Rams lose and Seahawks win, the Seahawks would have the better record in the NFC West, so they would hold the tiebreaker.

If the Seahawks lose and the Rams win, the Rams would clinch the NFC West and the Seahawks would be eliminated from playoff contention.

If both the Seahawks and the Rams win this week, it gets complicated. They would then be looking to the strength of victory tiebreaker, of which the Rams currently have the edge (thanks mostly to wins over the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings). So, the Rams could win the spot this week with a combination of wins from four of the following teams: Minnesota Vikings (vs Green Bay Packers), Buffalo Bills (vs New York Jets), San Francisco 49ers (vs DetroitLions), Washington Commanders (vs Atlanta Falcons), Cincinnati Bengals (vs Denver Broncos) and Cleveland Browns (vs Miami Dolphins).

Seahawks elimination scenarios Week 17

So a loss to the Bears tonight alone will not eliminate the Seahawks from playoff contention. A loss plus a Rams win over the Cardinals, however, would eliminate them directly. Even if they win though, the Seahawks could still potentially be eliminated this week. Here are the possible scenarios that could see the Seahawks eliminated from playoff contention by the end of Week 17:

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