Slumping Seattle Seahawks have made the NFC playoff picture intriguing

Week 14 is already underway. There are a dozen games on Sunday and two more on Monday night. The only two members of the National Football Conference not in action this week are the 3-10 Arizona Cardinals and 4-9 Washington Commanders.

There are currently only four teams in the NFC that boast winning records, and two of them square off on Sunday night in Dallas as the 10-2 Eagles clash with the 9-3 Cowboys. The 9-3 Detroit Lions travel to Chicago and the 9-3 San Francisco 49ers host Seattle.

What about Pete Carroll’s Seahawks? Let’s jump into the Hot Tub Time Machine and take a partial look at the league’s standings after 10 weeks of play. All of the aforementioned teams, including the Seahawks (6-3) and minus the Bears, were above .500. That would also include the 6-4 Vikings, who had rebounded from a 1-4 start.

Fast forward to this week. Thanks to the Seahawks’ current three-game losing streak (losses to the Rams, 49ers, and Cowboys, respectively), Carroll’s club now owns a 6-6 record. They are one of five clubs in the conference – the Vikings, Packers, Falcons, and Rams – who own that identical mark. Hence, there are more 6-6 teams in the NFC (5) than clubs with winning records (4).

As previously mentioned, Carroll’s team faces the division-leading 49ers for the second time in three weeks. The Seahawks have dropped four consecutive games in this series, including playoffs by a combined score of 120-56. Meanwhile, both the Packers and Rams have rebounded from 3-6 starts with three-game winning streaks and are certainly back in the postseason race.

The Falcons are in first place in the NFC South with a 6-6 record, which is not breaking news considering the Buccaneers won that division with an 8-9 mark a year ago. Tampa Bay and New Orleans, both 5-7, are right on their heels.

Seven teams qualify for the playoffs from each conference. That “if the season ended today stuff” makes no sense. There are only five teams in the AFC with losing resumes. It’s a different story in the NFC, which will make the stretch run extremely fascinating.