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NFL screws Seattle Seahawks, shoots itself in the foot with Week 18 scheduling

Instead of going with the best matchup possible for Sunday night, they went with the battle for the No. 4 seed in the AFC.
Tim Weaver|
Nov 3, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald interacts with a referee during the second half against the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field.
Nov 3, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald interacts with a referee during the second half against the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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Seattle Seahawks

We have finally arrived at the last week of the 2025 NFL season. As they have the last several years, the league held off scheduling Week 18's slate of games so as to maximize viewership for the most important matchups with playoff implications.

The obvious move would have been placing the Seattle Seahawks in prime-time on Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers, which will decide the winner of the NFC West and the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC.

However, the NFL decided to go a different route, electing to put the Seahawks and 49ers matchup on Saturday night instead, with the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers' battle for the fourth seed in the AFC on Sunday night.

As others have pointed out, this means Seattle will be on a short week going on the road for their biggest game of the year.

NFL screws Seahawks for Week 18

While it's a bummer for the Seahawks, by now no Seattle fan should be surprised. Both the NFL and the national media that covers it has a distinct east coast bias, and they don't give that up easily.

Seahawks vs. 49ers rematch

And so we will see the Seahawks visit Santa Clara to take on the 49ers on Saturday night, a rematch of their season opener that came right down to the wire.

Despite it being the first game of the season, that matchup had a special playoff type of atmosphere, and the action on the field played out very much like a postseason game. The Niners wound up winning by a score of 17-13, as Seattle's final drive stalled out after Sam Darnold fumbled as Abe Lucas got pushed into his space by Nick Bosa.

These 49ers are missing a lot of pieces that they had back in Week 1, though - including Bosa. Superstar middle linebacker Fred Warner may return for the playoffs but he is not expected to play in Week 18 as far as we're aware. According to the early odds at DraftKings Sportsbook, the Seahawks are 1.5-point underdogs.

  • Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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Tim Weaver
TIM WEAVER

Tim Weaver has been writing about the NFL since the 2013 season for multiple teams and outlets, including USA Today and The Sporting News. He currently covers the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers for On SI.