RENTON, Wash. -- The team that wins Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium between the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs should feel good about its chances of making the playoffs.
And the team that doesn’t win? Not as much.
Both the Seahawks and Chiefs enter the game 6-3. ESPN Stats & Information reveals that under the current playoff format, which dates to 1990, 84 percent of teams to start 7-3 went on to make the postseason.
The losing team still had a better than 50/50 shot to make the playoffs, but the percentage drops to 61 percent for 6-4 teams.
The Seahawks were 9-1 after 10 games last season. Sunday’s game starts a brutal six-game stretch where the Seahawks face teams that have a combined record of 39-15. That’s a .722 winning percentage, giving Seattle the toughest remaining schedule of any team in the league.
So losing Sunday and falling to 6-4 might be a little tougher than it looks. But the Seahawks control their own destiny with five NFC West games remaining, including two with division-leading Arizona and two with San Francisco.