Week 16 playoff clinching scenarios for the Seahawks

As you likely know by now, the Seahawks can take over the NFC West lead with a win in Arizona on Sunday, but to actually win the division they would have to win again the following week or get a Cardinal loss to the 49er. But while the Seahawks can’t clinch the division this weekend (Arizona can, however, win a win over Seattle) they can clinch a playoff spot, but it would require some unlikely scenarios playing out.

Here are the four ways Seattle can clinch a playoff berth this week:

1. Seahawks win and Green Bay loses at Tampa Bay.

2. Seahawks win and Detroit loses at Chicago.

3. Seahawks win and Philadelphia loses at Washington.

In all three of these scenarios, the Seahawks are guaranteed to at least match the record of the above team, even with a Week 17 loss, and Seattle has the tie breaker against all three. Then again, in all three scenarios, the Seahawks would need help from three pretty bad teams with little to play for at this point in the season. And if you are of the belief that the Seahawks can win out, a pretty likely scenario considering Arizona is down to its third quarterback and St. Louis has to come to Seattle in Week 17, then you should actually be pulling for Green Bay and Detroit to win. If the Seahawks do finish 12-4, the only way they don’t get the No. 1 seed in the NFC and the home-field advantage that comes with it is if they finish in a two-way tie with Dallas, which beat Seattle head-to-head. Any three-way tie or two-way tie with another team favors Seattle, and if Detroit and Green Bay both win, one of them will finish 12-4 since they play each other in Week 17, unless they tie, which obviously is unlikely.

4. Philadelphia loses and Dallas wins.

This scenario does not require a Seahawks win another game, because if the Eagles lose, Dallas clinches the NFC East and the Eagles take a sixth loss, meaning even if the Seahawks lose their next two and finish 10-6, they would tie Philadelphia and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.