How Week 17 will decide Seahawks’ first-round playoff opponent

If the Vikings and Seahawks both lose, the Vikings are the No. 5 seed. A win would have kept the team as the No. 5 seed with a scheduled game against the Washington Redskins in the wild card round of the playoffs.

Seattle’s going out to Arizona next week to face the Cardinals. The only team that has an official seed is Washington at No. 4.

The Week 17 matchup in Green Bay will be for the NFC North crown regardless of what happens during Sunday Night’s contest.

There are three possibilities that will be depend on the outcome of two games in Week 17: Seattle (9-6) at Arizona (13-2), 1:25 p.m. and Minnesota (10-5) at Green Bay (10-5), 5:30 p.m.

The Packers and Redskins have met in the playoffs only twice, as the Packers defeated the then-Boston Redskins in the 1936 NFL Championship Game, while the Redskins won a 1972 NFC Divisional playoff game by a final of 16-3. A loss and they are locked into the No. 6 seed and a road game at the NFC North victor. In fact, Sunday’s games didn’t eliminate any potential sites for Seattle’s wild-card game.

Green Bay would host Seattle in one first-round game and Washington would host Minnesota in the other. Carolina still holds the top spot in the NFC playoff seeding, while Minnesota is for now ahead of the Seahawks.

If the Vikings and Packers tie, the Vikings will be the No. 5 seed and play at Washington. Even if the Seahawks were to beat the Cardinals, they would lose a tiebreaker with Green Bay for playoff seeding by virtue of the Packers’ head-to-head victory over Seattle in Week 2.

So, the Seahawks now head to NFC West champion Arizona this coming Sunday for the regular season finale, a meeting that will still potentially have implications for both teams. If the Cardinals win and the Panthers lose again, the Cardinals would get the #1 seed. That leaves the Vikings to do the deed themselves… they must beat the Giants if they want to guarantee themselves a postseason appearance this week.

The Redskins did not play any of the three teams this season, most recently facing the Vikings and Seahawks in 2014, while playing the Packers in 2013. These recent results show that the team could match-up well with any of the three possible opponents.