After six weeks, it feels pretty premature to start talking about the playoffs, but a blogger’s insignificant work is never done.
We don’t know much about how this season is going to shake out, but we know a little bit. We know that at 3-3, the Seahawks could probably win the rest of their games and still not beat the Rams for the division (for the record, the Seahawks absolutely WON’T win the rest of their games – they do have one more against those very Rams, after all – so argue with me on that statement at your own discretion, but it’s a cow’s opinion any way you slice it). We know that, at 4-1, the Saints have the inside track on the NFC South. And, we know that the Redskins and Bears are leading in their respective divisions, but no one expects that to be the case at year’s end.
We also know that there are a ton of teams right around Seattle’s 3-3, all still very much in contention. The aforementioned Redskins and Bears, as well as the Panthers, are all 3-2 right now. The Packers and Vikings are 3-2-1. The Eagles and Cowboys are also 3-3. The Bucs and Lions are 2-3 and the Falcons are 2-4. Apologies to the Cards, 49ers, and Giants, but let’s stick with the top 13 teams in the NFC for now.
The Seahawks are 2-2 against the NFC so far. That’s a tough loss to the Bears, no doubt about it, as I feel like they’re eventually going to cede the division lead and be yet another wild card contender. That means we’re going to need them to either somehow win that division, or fall to at least a game below us. Our victory over the Cowboys, however, could be HUGE, if they manage to remain somewhat good the rest of the way.
Going forward, the Seahawks play a bunch of wild card contenders. Everyone else in the NFC North, for instance. We go to Detroit coming out of the BYE; that’s a very winnable game. We host the Packers on a Thursday Night; that should be interesting. And, we host the Vikings on a Monday Night, which is generally our best night from a historical perspective. Winning all three of those games would be amazing.
The other really big one is the game in Carolina on Thanksgiving weekend. I feel like every single one of these teams will be in it for a wild card spot, so really those four games are the very most important ones we’ve got. Winning all four of those, plus taking care of business against the 49ers and Cardinals, gets us to 10 wins and I’ll say this: if we win all of those games, I GUARANTEE the Seahawks will make the playoffs.
Fuck the Rams and fuck the remaining AFC teams. Just beat the
- Lions
- Packers
- Panthers
- 49ers
- Vikings
- 49ers
- Cardinals
and we’re golden. Any loss to the bottom-feeders needs to be made up for by an upset win against the Rams or the AFC. A loss to one of those wild card contenders – depending on what happens the rest of the way – could mean we need TWO wins against the Rams or AFC.
Something to think about during this carefree BYE week. Every game counts the same in the standings, but not every game is equal in importance.