The Seahawks get an ugly win they need to keep their playoff hopes alive

SEATTLE — The most straightforward path to the playoffs, at least at this point, remains intact thanks to a gutsy, ugly, nerve-wracking win by the Seahawks on Thursday night.

They did so with a 6-3 win over Chicago, which officially marks the lowest point total in a Seahawks victory in franchise history dating back 48 years.

So yeah, that was it to kind of game.

Positives, negatives, and the playoff road ahead, let’s dive into what it all means:

The playoff path is a little more clear

The Seahawks did themselves no favors by losing to Green Bay and Minnesota in back-to-back weeks. These defeats took fate out of their control. But they kept a reasonable hope alive by winning on Thursday night.

All eyes now turn to Saturday’s game between the LA Rams and the Arizona Cardinals.

If the Rams win, the window for Seattle becomes exponentially narrower. Let’s explain the Seahawks’ playoff scenarios:

The Seahawks would make the playoffs if:

• The Rams lose to Arizona this week AND lose to the Seahawks next week

In that scenario, the Rams’ loss to Arizona sets up the equivalent of an NFC West championship game next week between the Seahawks and LA at SoFi Stadium.

If the Rams beat the Cardinals, things boil down to a weird tiebreaking formula based on the strength of schedule, while LA would only need 3.5 wins from the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Commanders.

In other words, if the Rams win and so does, e.g. Commanders, Browns, Bills and Bengals, then the Rams win the NFC West.

The Rams could win and not get the 3.5 total wins from those clubs, and then we’ll have to look at the landscape heading into the final week. In that case, even with a Seahawks win over LA, you’d have to go down the tiebreaker wormhole again.

In short, root really hard for the Cardinals so that strength of schedule draw doesn’t even come into play.

The defense came to play

When you win a game without scoring a touchdown, you have your defense to thank in every sense of the word. When you win a game with your lowest point total ever in a win? You probably owe them a lot more.

The Seahawks defense knows that Caleb Williams has been sacked more than any other NFL quarterback so far this season and increased that number by seven Thursday night when six different players brought Williams to the turf.

Additionally, the Bears rookie signal-caller had gone nine games without throwing an interception until Riq Woolen picked off a fourth-down sack from Williams to effectively end the game.

Woolen getting the interception was a nice moment for a Seahawks rising star who has endured some ups and downs this season.

Seven sacks, one nice interception and only giving up 165 yards? It’s a solid day any way you look at it — and if the correct scenarios mentioned above play out — it could very well save the Seahawks’ season.

The offense … needs a big step forward next week

The Seahawks’ offense has been something of a roller coaster ride this season. This was not a good show by any means.

Not recording a touchdown is certainly awful, but having it happen against a team now on a 10-game losing streak is exponentially worse.

There were positives: Geno Smith didn’t throw an interception, and there were flashes of great runs from Zach Charbonnet and Kenny Mcintosh, who will be counted on even longer with Kenneth Walker III out at least four weeks.

SEE ALSO | Seahawks place running back Kenneth Walker III on injured reserve

But the positives wouldn’t feel like that if Chicago won, which they almost did when Pharaoh Brown fumbled the ball early in the second half.

And they certainly would have carried more weight if the Seahawks could finish the drive. On the opening drive of the game, when they kicked a field goal to win, Geno Smith was almost intercepted trying to force the ball into a tight window.

So a lack of production and some near misses could have made this a very different story. The reality is that the defense won the day and this is a team sport so the offense lives to fight for someone else.

But should the Seahawks’ season and playoff dreams hinge on a de facto playoff and NFC West title matchup with the Rams next week? What we saw Thursday won’t be enough.n and playoff dreams hinge on a de facto playoff and NFC West title game with the Rams next week? What we saw on Thursday is not enough.