NFL Playoff Picture: Seahawks lose, fail to clinch wild card, get 2 more shots

The Seattle Seahawks lost to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday and will have to wait to clinch a playoff berth, which they have two more chances to do themselves. The Seahawks host the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday night and a win would make them a guaranteed wild card. A loss would help the Chiefs stay in first place in the AFC, whereas if KC loses, it could be detrimental to their playoff hopes as they might fall from a first round bye to being a wild card team.

If Seattle doesn’t clinch after Week 16 is complete, they’ll have another shot to clinch when they host the 3-11 Arizona Cardinals in Week 17. Obviously in losing to San Francisco on Sunday, the Seahawks have shown that they can lose to competition that does not have a good record and there are no guarantees, but per 538, Seattle is still 97% odds to make the postseason.

As it stands, the Seahawks are still most likely to be the 5-seed. If that happens, there’s an enormous probability that the Dallas Cowboys will be the 4-seed and the team that the 5-seed faces. The Cowboys lost 23-0 to the Indianapolis Colts this week.

Nobody wants to see Seattle lose out, but they could also lose out and still make the postseason as a wild card. With the right teams losing, they could actually clinch before Week 17 without winning against the Chiefs.