Seattle Seahawks Receive Help From Local Hero as Bengals Beat Vikings in Overtime

With the Seattle Seahawks idle until Monday night after their Week 15 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles was flexed to prime time, the team's playoff push received some beneficial help from the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday.

Led by former Washington star Jake Browning, who now has led his team to three consecutive victories replacing an injured Joe Borrow, the Bengals overcame a 17-3 deficit to defeat the Minnesota Vikings 27-24 in overtime on Saturday. With the loss, the Vikings fell to 7-7 on the season, improving the Seahawks' postseason odds from 25 to 29 percent according to the New York Times playoff simulator.

That may not seem like a big deal, but if Seattle can right the ship and find a way to upset a banged-up Philadelphia squad on Monday night to get back to the .500 mark at 7-7, those odds would jump to 48 percent, a substantial improvement with three weeks remaining. If the Commanders can upset the Rams in Los Angeles on Sunday, odds would improve to 60 percent, while the Packers losing to the Buccaneers would barely move the needle upward regardless of the result in the Rams game.

On the flip side, if the Seahawks lose to the Eagles, they will barely be clinging to playoff life at 11 percent. The Rams and Packers both winning would drop that number further to eight percent, while both teams losing would slightly improve chances to 20 percent with three games left to play.

Since NFC games offer far more importance in tiebreakers, the importance of Monday's game cannot be overstated. Minnesota remains at the .500 mark and even with another win over an NFC foe, Seattle would still be behind them due to having a better win percentage in conference games. If Los Angeles wins to improve to 7-7, it would hold the final wild card spot over Seattle after winning both head-to-head NFC West matchups, while a Green Bay win would put it in the final spot thanks to a head-to-head victory over Los Angeles.

If that sounds confusing, well, that's the nature of the NFL playoff race when three or more teams have identical records at this stage of the season. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, the pair of losses to the Rams and 49ers as well as a road loss to the Cowboys have put them in a bad spot for tiebreakers. Even if they win out, they will need additional help from other teams beating the Vikings, Rams, and Packers to get into the dance in January and don't control their destiny, as if two of those teams win out, each will hold the tiebreaker over the Seahawks.

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At the end of the day, none of these logistics will matter if Seattle isn't able to start winning games. A fifth straight loss on Monday night would put playoff chances on the brink and unlike a year ago when the team snuck in on the final week, tiebreakers currently are not set up favorably for such a result with a 9-8 record and four divisional losses in 2023.