NFL Playoffs: The Seahawks will play an NFC West rival in the divisional round

The Seahawks know that their divisional round foe will be one of their NFC West rivals, but they’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out which one.

The Chicago Bears pulled off a massive comeback in their wild card round matchup tonight, erasing a 21-3 halftime deficit to win 31-27. It was the first Bears postseason victory in 15 seasons, a miraculous comeback after a first half that featured no defensive resistance and three failed fourth down attempts.

In doing so, they also ruined Seattle’s hopes of finding out their divisional opponent early. Had the Packers finished the game out, Green Bay would have been locked in as the foe, as they were guaranteed to be the lowest remaining seed. Now, either the Los Angeles Rams or the San Francisco 49ers will be that low seed, and will be headed to Seattle for a rubber match.

The Seahawks split their season series against both teams, losing their first tries to the 49ers 17-13 and Rams 21-19 before winning the second matches 13-3 and 38-37 respectively. Their two wins came in the final month of the season, helping propel Seattle to a division title. Now, they know they’ll need at least one tiebreaker to get to the Super Bowl, and may need two.

It all comes down to tomorrow afternoon’s game in Philadelphia. If the Eagles win, Philly squares off with Chicago in the divisional round and Seattle takes on Los Angeles. Should the 49ers score the upset, however, it’ll be the Rams going to Chicago and San Francisco going to Seattle.

While the Seahawks beat both teams recently, the two games went very differently. In their 49ers game just a week ago, Seattle controlled the entire game on the ground and completely shut down a San Francisco offense that had looked unstoppable in previous weeks. In the Rams game, Seattle looked dead in the water, down 30-14 before staging a massive comeback.

I imagine most Seahawks fans would prefer the 49ers, knowing how difficult it has been for Shanahan to crack the Mike Macdonald defense, both in Seattle and Baltimore, whereas McVay has found some success against it. Both teams, however, have had big problems defensively in recent games, and offer many opportunities for Klint Kubiak to exploit them.

Either way, the Seahawks will enjoy a big advantage next week, coming off the first round bye, whereas the Rams just went down to the wire with the Panthers and the 49ers are looking at an uphill battle to get past the Eagles. It’s not a bad time to get an opponent that you’re otherwise concerned about, all things being equal.

But the pressure to make good on securing the top seed will be significant, and games within one’s division are often tricky, so it’s a matter of preparation and execution.

The 49ers can earn another shot at Seattle in a week if they take care of their game tomorrow. — Seattle Seahawks tight end Eric Saubert (81) makes a catch against San Francisco 49ers cornerback Upton Stout (20). | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

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