The Seattle Seahawks had their bye week at just the right time, after a tough loss against the Buccaneers in Germany. A week to regroup and put things together for the second half of the season hopefully helped a lot, especially with how heavily their identity shifted over the first 10 weeks. However, the San Francisco 49ers jumped to 6-4 with a dominant victory over the Arizona Cardinals, tying with the Seahawks but having the head-to-head tiebreaker after their win earlier in the season. The 49ers are now solidly the favorites in the division, leaving Seattle with something to prove.
The schedule will give them ample room to prove themselves as well. They get back into action on Nov. 27 against the struggling Las Vegas Raiders, who are fresh off their first victory in four weeks. Don’t let that fool you, because Derek Carr, Davante Adams and the rest of the crew all have the talent to win games.
From there, it’s a travel week to Los Angeles to take on the Rams, who, despite winning the Super Bowl last season, are in shambles. They are at 3-7 and are officially without Cooper Kupp for an extended period of time. They have lost four at a time and don’t have the draft capital to rebuild in short order. The Rams will have likely been on a five-game losing streak supposing they drop their match against the Kansas City Chiefs, making them easy pickings.
The Carolina Panthers also serve very little worry for Seattle, as their season has basically already come to an end. Baker Mayfield has proven without a doubt that he simply isn’t that good, and the Panthers should be in the running for a top QB in next year’s draft.
Seattle’s only Thursday Night Football game of the year comes on Dec. 15 against the 49ers. San Francisco won their first match 27-7 back in September and have only gotten better as a team. This will have to be the game for Seattle to prove that they can be the division champions, and it is probably the most important game of the season for them.
It doesn’t get any easier the next week when the Seahawks travel to Kansas City on Christmas Eve to play the Chiefs, who remain as Super Bowl favorites 11 weeks into the season. They are hard competition, and it’s hard to imagine Seattle coming away with a win.
On New Year’s Day, the Seahawks will host the New York Jets, who are in the middle of their own controversy. At 6-4, having lost 10-3 to the Patriots, the Jets have announced the benching of their starting quarterback in favor of Mike White. New York has a phenomenal defense that has kept them squarely in the playoff hunt, but without a quarterback who can generate any offense, they will likely continue to falter down the stretch.
To end the season, the Rams come to town again for their second matchup of the year.
Ideally, the Seahawks win out. But nobody in their right mind would argue that it’s the most likely outcome. The Seahawks are going to be favored in their next three games and underdogs in the next two. The Rams and 49ers games could go either way due to the nature of divisional rivalries, but the likeliest outcome is that the Rams lose and 49ers win.
I would also consider the Seahawks the better team and give them the edge at home against the Jets. The interesting pick for me comes in the final week, when the Rams come to Seattle. Despite everything pointing towards the Seahawks being the better team, it’s hard to predict a 2-0 divisional sweep, and with Kupp back, I’m inclined to call the Rams the victors here.
Supposing that stretch ends with four Seattle wins out of seven games, the Seahawks would finish the season 10-7, which isn’t ideal for a playoff push but might do the job in a struggling conference. 5-2 would be easily imaginable as well, supposing they sweep the Rams, which would further help their cause.
The Seahawks have played really good football to date, but laying out the schedule demonstrates that they aren’t out of the woods yet. It should be entertaining to watch everything play out over the next several weeks, and hopefully we will see the playoffs in Seattle yet again.
