SEATTLE, WA – DECEMBER 22: Seattle Seahawks Fullback Nick Bellore (44) scoring a touchdown
during an NFL football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals on December 22, 2019 at Century Link Field in Seattle, WA. (Photo by Michael Workman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
With only one week left in the regular season, these five teams have to find a way to come up with a win in Week 17 to secure their positions in the NFL postseason.
It’s hard to believe, but the NFL’s postseason picture is pretty secure entering Week 17. Ten of the 12 playoff spots have already been clinched, leaving just seeding up for grabs for most of the contenders.
There are still those two spots on the line, however, along with home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The teams competing for those berths headline our list of five teams that have to win in Week 17, although with all the various scenarios we could easily have expanded this section to include upwards of a dozen teams.
In the interest of brevity, we’ll stick to five, beginning with the combatants in the NFC West title game on Sunday Night Football.
5. Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks enter this game with the San Francisco 49ers coming off a loss, which is discouraging because it also lost running back Chris Carson for the season. Marshawn Lynch is out of retirement to help Seattle, which needs this win to potentially secure home field throughout the NFC playoffs.
A loss isn’t crippling for Seattle since they will still be playing in January, but their path would become much more difficult. The loser of this game will be the No. 5 seed and staring at a cross-country flight to Philadelphia, a fate they would love to avoid.