SEATTLE- The most direct path to the playoffs remains, at least at this point, thanks to a gutsy, ugly and nail-biting win by the Seahawks on Thursday night.

They did this with a 6-3 win over Chicago, which is officially the Seahawks’ lowest point win in 48-year franchise history.

So, yes, that was it The kind of game.

Positives, negatives and the path to the playoffs – let’s take a look at what it all means:

The playoff path is a little clearer

The Seahawks didn’t do themselves any favors by losing to Green Bay and Minnesota in back-to-back weeks. These defeats pushed fate out of control. But with victory on Thursday evening they kept hope alive.

Now all eyes turn to Saturday’s game between the LA Rams and Arizona Cardinals.

If the Rams win, Seattle’s window becomes exponentially narrower. Let’s break down the Seahawks’ playoff scenarios:

The Seahawks would make the playoffs if:

• The Rams lose to Arizona this week AND lose to the Seahawks next week

In this scenario, the Rams’ loss to Arizona sets up an NFC West championship game between the Seahawks and LA next week at SoFi Stadium.

If the Rams beat the Cardinals, things come down to a strange tiebreaker formula based on strength of schedule, while LA only gets 3.5 wins from the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Commanders would need.

In other words: If the Rams win and, for example, the Commanders, Browns, Bills and Bengals also win, then the Rams win the NFC West.

The Rams could win without getting those clubs’ 3.5 total wins, and then we have to look at the situation before last week. In this case, even if the Seahawks win over LA, you would have to go back into the tiebreaker wormhole.

In short, we really need to give the Cardinals a lot of power so that the key strength of the game plan doesn’t even come into play.

The defense came to play

If you win a game without scoring a touchdown, you literally have your defense to thank for it. If you win a game with the lowest point total ever? You probably owe them a lot more.

The Seahawks’ defense knows Caleb Williams has been sacked more than any other NFL quarterback so far this season, and increased that number by seven on Thursday night when six different players put Williams on the field.

Additionally, the Bears’ rookie signal-caller had not thrown an interception in nine games until Riq Woolen blocked a fourth-down heave from Williams, effectively ending the game.

Woolen’s interception was a nice moment for the Seahawks’ rising star, who has endured some ups and downs this season.

Seven sacks, a nice interception and only 165 yards? This is a solid day by any measure – and if the above scenarios are correct, it could save the Seahawks’ season.

The offense…needs a big step forward next week

The Seahawks’ offense has been something of a roller coaster ride this season. That wasn’t a good idea in any way.

Sure, not scoring a touchdown is terrible, but when something like that happens against a team that’s now on a ten-game losing streak, it’s even worse.

There were positives: Geno Smith didn’t throw an interception and there were flashes of nice runs from Zach Charbonnet and Kenny Mcintosh, which will be relied upon even more with Kenneth Walker III out for at least four weeks.

SEE ALSO | The Seahawks placed running back Kenneth Walker III on injured reserve

But those positives wouldn’t feel the same if Chicago won, which they almost did when Pharaoh Brown fumbled the ball early in the second half.

And they certainly would have carried more weight if the Seahawks had been able to finish drives. On the opening series of the game, as they kicked a field goal to win, Geno Smith was nearly intercepted trying to force the ball into a tight window.

So poor production and some near misses could have resulted in the story being very different. The reality is that the defense won the day, and this is a team sport, so the offense thrives on fighting for another win.

But should the Seahawks’ season and playoff dreams hinge on a de facto playoff and NFC West title game with the Rams next week? What we saw on Thursday won’t be enough and playoff dreams depend on a de facto playoff and NFC West title game with the Rams next week? What we saw on Thursday will not be enough.