NFC Playoff Picture: Seahawks remain in 2nd, lose no ground in NFC West

The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday but the standings barely noticed. The Seahawks dropped to 7-3-1, losing a game to the first place 10-1 Dallas Cowboys, but remaining in line for the number two seed and a bye week in the NFC.

The Detroit Lions improved to 7-4 on Thursday and the Atlanta Falcons improved with the same record on Sunday, meaning they are both just a .5-game back. Seattle has a head-to-head win over the Falcons but it likely won’t matter because of the Seahawks’ tie against the Arizona Cardinals. The Lions play the Saints in New Orleans next week while Atlanta hosts the Kansas City Chiefs.

Seattle hosts the Carolina Panthers, who just fell to 4-7 after a loss to the Oakland Raiders.

But all four teams in the NFC West lost on Sunday; the Cardinals fell 38-19 to the Falcons; the LA Rams fell 49-21 to the Saints; the San Francisco 49ers dropped to 1-10 after a 31-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Because of that, the Seahawks remain three games up on Arizona with five games to play. The Cards will need to gain two games and then beat the Hawks in Seattle to take back the division.

The New York Giants are 8-3 but they won’t factor into the Seahawks’ playoff stuff unless they can catch the Cowboys, otherwise they’ll just be a wild card. It’s highly unlikely that Seattle will miss the playoffs or win a wild card. They probably were never going to catch Dallas, but Sunday’s loss does hurt their chances of getting a bye week. There’s still a lot that could happen in the next five weeks.