NFL Week 10 playoff picture: The 9 teams Seahawks fans should root for

The Seattle Seahawks are on a bye week this upcoming weekend. So, what are 12s supposed to do in the meantime? You could take the day to enjoy life outside of football, such as going to the gym, or catching up on chores, or spending time with the family. Or... you can lock into NFL RedZone and root against/for certain teams in hope that certain specific results will help the Seahawks in the NFC Playoff Picture .

To determine who to root for/against, let us first check out the NFC Playoff Picture.

NFC Division LeadersOne Seed: Detroit Lions - 7-1

Two Seed: Washington Commanders – 7-2

Three Seed: Atlanta Falcons – 6-3

Four Seed: Arizona Cardinals – 5-4

Following behind the division leaders are the three wildcard teams, and the rest of the NFC. As of now no team has been eliminated, however there are a few teams who, barring a miraculous turnaround, are likely not sniffing the playoffs in 2024.

NFC Wild Card teamsFive Seed: Minnesota Vikings – 6-2, second in the NFC North

Six Seed: Philadelphia Eagles – 6-2, second in the NFC East

Seven Seed: Green Bay Packers – 6-3, third in the NFC North

Here are the NFC teams who are still alive, but would not make the playoffs if they started today (otherwise known as the "in the hunt"):

Not in a playoff spotEight Seed: Chicago Bears – 4-4, fourth in the NFC North

Nine Seed: San Francisco 49ers – 4-4, third in the NFC West

Ten Seed: Los Angeles Rams – 4-4, second in the NFC West

Eleven Seed: Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 4-5, second in the NFC South

Twelve Seed: Seattle Seahawks – 4-5, third in the NFC North

Thirteen Seed: Dallas Cowboys – 3-5, third in the NFC East

Fourteen Seed: Carolina Panthers – 2-7, third in the NFC South

Fifteen Seed: New Orleans Saints – 2-7, fourth in the NFC South

Sixteen Seed: New York Giants – 2-7, fourth in the NFC East.

After looking at the NFC Playoff picture, two things become apparent. First, there are three teams (Giants, Saints, Panthers), whom barring a miraculous comeback, are not making the playoffs in 2024. You could arguably put the Cowboys in here as well, as they are sitting at 3-5 and are without Dak Prescott for at least four weeks now. Two, there is a (current) large gap between the current WC teams and the "in the hunt" teams. The current seven seed is the Packers at 6-3, while the eight seed is the Bears at 4-4. That is 1.5 game gap between who is currently in the playoffs and who is not.

How do these two observations affect the Seahawks? This means, the likeliest path for the Seahawks to make the playoffs is by winning the NFC West. Currently, Seattle (4-5) is the twelve seed, and are two games behind the seven-seed Packers (6-3). Meanwhile, despite an 0-2 division record, Seattle (4-5) is only one game behind the Cardinals (5-4). This means that Seattle first and foremost, needs to root against all of its division foes (duh).

So, who are the rest of the NFC West teams playing this Sunday? The current leaders, the Cardinals, are hosting the New York Jets . Meanwhile the Rams are hosting the Miami Dolphins , and the 49ers are travelling to Tampa Bay. This means that for the NFC West purposes, 12s should be rooting for the Jets, Dolphins, and Buccaneers. These three games will be the games of highest interest to the Seahawks.

Outside the NFC West, the other Week 10 games can be separated into three buckets (1) games that will not matter for the Seahawks, (2) games that likely won't matter for the Seahawks, and (3) games that will impact for the Seahawks.

Games that will not matter to the Seahawks - Cincinnati Bengals Baltimore Ravens (TNF)

- Denver Broncos Kansas City Chiefs

- Buffalo Bills Indianapolis Colts

- Tennessee Titans Los Angeles Chargers

These games are all between AFC teams, so for the Seahawks' playoff chances, they will not matter. Perhaps 12s might have some fantasy football relevance for these games.

Games that will likely not matter to the Seahawks - New York Giants vs Carolina Panthers (Germany game)

The Germany game between the Giants and Panthers involves teams with only two wins, and neither is likely sniffing the playoffs in 2024. Another game 12s may want to look for fantasy football tie ins.

Games that will impact the Seahawks - Pittsburgh Steelers Washington Commanders

- Minnesota Vikings Jacksonville Jaguars

- New England Patriots Chicago Bears

- Detroit Lions Houston Texans

- Philadelphia Eagles Dallas Cowboys

- Atlanta Falcons New Orleans Saints

This bucket, there are clear teams for the 12s to root for in regard to the Seahawks' playoff hopes. The first four games listed below have an NFC team vs an AFC team. In those instances, simply root for the AFC teams to beat the NFC teams. Meaning this Sunday, 12s should root got the Steelers , Jaguars, Patriots, and Texans .

The next two games involve a little more thinking through. For the Eagles and Cowboys game, a Cowboys win could be bad for Seattle as that would bring them to 4-5, just like Seattle. However, an Eagles win could arguably be worse as they are currently the six seed, and for Seattle to possibly sniff a Wildcard spot, they need the current wildcard teams to lose as much as possible. A similar analysis holds for the Falcons and Saints game. A Saints win could get them closer to Seattle in the rankings. However, the Falcons have not locked up the NFC South, and the Buccaneers could easily still catch them. Meaning that the Falcons could easily be a wildcard threat as well. With this said, a Falcons loss would be more helpful to Seattle, even with the Seahawks already having beaten them this season.