The Seattle Seahawks (9-7) avoided a humiliating loss to the Chicago Bears (4-12) on Thursday Night Football, winning 6-3 in a hard-to-watch game. Still, a win is a win and the Seahawks are assured of a successful season for the third time in a row. Whether they make the playoffs or not is a different story.

What the Seahawks’ win means for the NFC West race

The Seahawks already risked elimination with a loss to the Bears and a win Saturday night by the Los Angeles Rams (9-6) over the Arizona Cardinals (7-8). Seattle can no longer be eliminated from the playoffs simply by a Rams win, but the team can still be eliminated on Sunday based on the strength of the win in the tiebreaker.

How much a win could knock out the Seahawks in Week 17

There are six games this weekend involving teams that have beaten either the Seahawks or the Rams – in the case of the San Francisco 49ers, a team the Rams have beaten twice. There is a significant difference in overall win percentage between the Seahawks and Rams, which means…

If four of those six outcomes come to fruition AND the Rams beat the Cardinals, the Seahawks are out and the Rams win the NFC West.

Saturday: Cincinnati Bengals above Denver Broncos

Sunday: Minnesota Vikings over Green Bay Packers

Sunday: Buffalo Bills above New York Jets

Sunday: Washington commanders above Atlanta Falcons

Sunday: Cleveland Browns above Miami Dolphins

Monday: San Francisco 49ers above Detroit Lions

If three or fewer of these results occur, the Seahawks will see another week but would still need SOV help to start Week 18. We’ll cross that path when we get there.

If the Rams lose (or tie) to the Cardinals, the strength of the win no longer matters

This extremely complicated and not particularly realistic path to the playoffs for the Seahawks won’t matter if the Rams can’t beat the Cardinals. If the Rams lose, both teams will be 9-7 and the NFC West will be winner-take-all in Week 18. Seahawks to make the playoffs. Seattle would have a division record tiebreaker over the Rams when the NFC West is on the line in Week 18.

So the easiest thing to do is to bet on the Arizona Cardinals to win so we don’t end up hoping for several other teams to win the rest of Weeks 17 and 18. Considering Arizona has LJ Collier, Evan Brown, Joey Blount (ruled out with injury) and DeeJay Dallas on the roster, it’s almost like you’re rooting for the Seahawks anyway.