Seahawks open as 6.5-point underdogs to Cardinals with NFC West title at stake for Arizona

Heading into the final week of the 2021 season, the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals find themselves in a dead heat.

No, not in the playoff chase.

And, no, not in the NFC West standings.

Sunday’s tilt at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, featuring the 6-10 Seahawks and the 11-5 Cardinals, is much more meaningful than that as it marks the 46th matchup between these two teams.

The Seahawks have won 22 of the previous 45 games, as have the Cardinals. One game ended in a (super disgusting) 6-6 tie.

Thus, each team currently sits at 22-22-1 versus the other team, all-time, and offseason bragging rights are on the line!

At least for the fans.

Of course, the game actually has more implications than that.

As we know, from Mookie’s piece on Sunday night, the Cardinals have a chance to win the NFC West title with a win (and a Rams loss to the 49ers). The Seahawks are in a position to (potentially) play spoiler and drop the kid brother division rival Cardinals into the wildcard round.

While it would be amusing to see the Cardinals complete their inexplicable freefall from “last undefeated team” (7-0 through Week 7) to 11-6 wild card team, DraftKings Sportsbook isn’t optimistic about the Seahawks’ chances. They have the Cardinals favored by 6.5 points.

The current moneyline is Seahawks +220, Cardinals -275.

The Over/Under is 48 points.

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For what it’s worth, the Seahawks and Cardinals have split the season series each of the last two years and have done so a total of 7 times during Pete Carroll’s 12 years in Seattle.

Also, Pete is 13-9-1 against the Cardinals as the Seahawks’ head coach and his teams are 14-9-1 against the Cardinals overall.