The Seattle Seahawks and their fanbase will have to do an about-face when it comes to their rooting tendencies this weekend. After defeating the Chicago Bears on Thursday night, the Seahawks kept their hopes of winning the NFC West and reaching the playoffs alive, but they'll need some help from an unlikely source.
Seattle will now have to root for their division rival Arizona Cardinals to defeat the Los Angeles Rams (also a division rival) on Saturday night. The only path for the Seahawks to make the playoffs is to win the NFC West. The easiest way for that to happen is for the Rams to lose out and for the Seahawks to win out. After the Cardinals and Rams duke it out Saturday, Week 18 features a head-to-head between L.A. and Seattle at SoFi Stadium.
So, the Seahawks will be rooting for the Cardinals to give them an assist.
"Honestly, we shouldn't be in this position," quarterback Geno Smith said of the team's playoff predicament after Thursday's win. "That's the main thing. Understanding that we got to control our destiny when we can, yeah, I'm going to be a big Kyler Murray fan on Saturday. If they get it done they get it done. We're going to go into the last week of the season with the same mindset no matter what."
The Seahawks rooting more for the Rams to lose than the Cardinals to win takes some of the awkwardness out of cheering for one of their division rivals, but it's still a strange situation they find themselves in.
"I'm going to watch every snap," said head coach Mike Macdonald.
Fortunately for Seattle, it looks like the Cardinals are embracing the role of spoiler and won't be packing it in as they wrap up the season.
"There won't be any foot off the gas or going out there just playing for no reason," Kyler Murray said this week, via Pro Football Talk. "I personally have a reason to play, and I know the guys will feel the same way."
The Cardinals take on the Rams in Inglewood, California, in the final game of Saturday's Week 17 tripleheader.
