The Seattle Seahawks (9-7) avoided a humiliating defeat to the Chicago Bears (4-12) on Thursday Night Football, winning 6-3 in a scarcely watchable game. Still, a win is a win and the Seahawks are assured at least a winning season for the third year in a row. Whether or not they make the playoffs is a different story.

What the Seahawks win means for the NFC West race

The Seahawks risked being eliminated just with a loss to the Bears and a win on Saturday night by the Los Angeles Rams (9-6) over the Arizona Cardinals (7-8). Seattle can no longer be bounced from playoff contention just with a Rams win, but it can still be knocked out on Sunday due to the strength of victory tiebreaker.

How strength of victory could knock the Seahawks out in Week 17

There are six games this weekend involving teams either the Seahawks or Rams have beaten—in the case of the San Francisco 49ers, a team the Rams have beaten twice. There is a significant gap in overall win percentage between the Seahawks and Rams, which means…

If four of these six results come to fruition AND the Rams beat the Cardinals, the Seahawks are out and the Rams win the NFC West.

Saturday: Cincinnati Bengals over Denver Broncos

Sunday: Minnesota Vikings over Green Bay Packers

Sunday: Buffalo Bills over New York Jets

Sunday: Washington Commanders over Atlanta Falcons

Sunday: Cleveland Browns over Miami Dolphins

Monday: San Francisco 49ers over Detroit Lions

If three or fewer of these results materialize, the Seahawks live to see another week, but would still need SOV help entering Week 18. We’ll cross that path if/when we get there.

If the Rams lose to (or tie) the Cardinals, strength of victory no longer factors

This extremely convoluted and not particularly realistic pathway to the playoffs for the Seahawks will not matter if the Rams fail to beat the Cardinals. If the Rams lose then both teams would be 9-7 and it’s winner-take-all in the NFC West for Week 18. A Rams win or tie would be enough to win the division for them, whereas winning is the only option for the Seahawks in order to reach the playoffs. Seattle would have a divisional record tiebreaker over the Rams if the NFC West is at stake in Week 18.

So the simplest thing to do is pull for the Arizona Cardinals to win so we’re not pulling for several other teams to win over the remainder of Week 17 and 18. Considering Arizona has L.J. Collier, Evan Brown, Joey Blount (ruled out with injury), and DeeJay Dallas on the squad, it’s almost like you’re rooting for the Seahawks anyway.