The Seattle Seahawks have only one path to the playoffs: winning the NFC West.
Seattle finds itself heading into a must-win game against the host Bears on Thursday night, and even if the Seahawks can top Chicago and beat the Los Angeles Rams in Week 18, they still might miss out on the postseason because of the strength-of-victory tiebreaker.
If Seattle (8-7) was to get past Los Angeles for a 10-7 finish, the teams would split their season series 1-1, have matching 4-4 records against common opponents and would hold the same in-conference record, leaving strength of victory to determine the fate of the Seahawks and Rams.
And that fifth tiebreaker belongs to Los Angeles.
“We just got to handle our part, which is win out,” Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV said. “Then, let the chips fall where they fall. Hopefully, we catch a little luck and we can get in there.”
Seattle dropped out of wild-card contention after a 27-24 loss to the Vikings on Sunday. Minnesota was down 24-20 with less than 4 1/2 minutes to go, but Sam Darnold threw a go-ahead 39-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson with 3:51 remaining.
Jason Myers came up short on a 60-yard field-goal attempt with 1:55 left, preventing the Seahawks from drawing even.
“We got to win two, but it starts with one,” said Seattle quarterback Geno Smith, who had 314 passing yards, three touchdowns and two picks against Minnesota. “We got a tough Chicago team on the road. I know their record isn’t the greatest, but if you watch film on those guys, they got a tough team ask with a lot of the talent.
“We got to be ready coming off a short week, traveling on Christmas. Guys got to get their minds right and get ready to go.”
The Bears (4-11) have dropped nine consecutive games, most recently losing 34-17 to the Detroit Lions. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams continued to shine, passing for 334 yards and two TDs.
“Every snap is valuable,” Williams said. “There are so many different situations that happen throughout games that you can learn from and that I’ve learned from this year.”
Williams has been building a strong rapport with wide receiver Rome Odunze, a fellow first-round pick in this year’s draft. The two hooked up four times for 77 yards against Detroit.
“From the moment you step on the field with a great player like him, you feel that confidence and I think that you feed off of that from one another and I think that we do that well,” Odunze said of his relationship with Williams. “But you’ve got to go out there and prove it on the field and we have to continue to do that.”
Both the Bears and Seahawks held walkthroughs on Tuesday.
Had Chicago had a full practice, running back Travis Homer (hamstring), left guard Teven Jenkins (calf) and defensive backs Elijah Hicks (ankle/foot) and Tarvarius Moore (knee) would have been unable to participate. For Seattle, running back Kenneth Walker III (ankle) and tight end Brady Russell (foot) were listed as non-participants.
