I don't know much about football, but I'm learning. Can somebody explain what our chances of making it to the Superbowl are and what would have to happen?

NFL tiebreaker rules are about the most complicated thing in sports.

Thankfully we have already clinched a wildcard, and will hopefully play the winner in the NFC East since they'll likely have a losing record and are estimated to be the easier division to play against.

The Cardinals have clinched our division, so we will definitely not be getting a first round bye in the playoffs, and are going to have to win 3 playoff games in a row to get to the Superbowl.

As 5th or 6th seed (wildcards) our first game will be against another division winner who did not clinch a bye, either the 3rd or 4th seed. (5th plays 4th, and 6th plays 3rd). The 3rd and 4th seeds are the 2 division winners with the worst record. The 2 with the best record get the bye.

Since Carolina and Arizona will have the bye, we will either play the winner of the NFC East (probably Washington, but Philly and NYG could still pull it out) if we are the 5th Seed since they'll be the worst division leader at the 4th seed.

Or we will play the winner of the NFC North at either Green Bay or Minnesota if we are the 6th seed. We want Green Bay to win the division, because we've beat the Vikings and lost to the Packers, and we are fighting with the loser of those 2 for the better wildcard spot, since whoever doesn't win that division will likely be the other wildcard. So we own the tiebreaker against Minnesota if we have the same record, but Green Bay owns it against us. We want Green Bay to win the division for a better chance at #5 instead of #6, so that we can play the NFC East in our first playoff game.

If we win against whichever division winner we play, then for our 2nd playoff game we'll travel to play another division winner depending on our seed. Since Arizona is most likely going to retain the #2 seed, they would play the stronger of the remaining seeds coming off their bye week since Carolina at #1 will play the weaker seed. So the only way we would play Arizona for the 2nd playoff game is if we are the #5 seed and the #6 seed beats the winner of the NFC North (Packers or Vikings). Otherwise we'd be the lowest seed and will go to Carolina. #6 is the lowest seed. Lowest number is the highest seed.

If we win that game, then we'll most likely play Arizona in the NFC Championship Game if they haven't lost yet. Although we could also end up in Carolina, and possibly even up against the Vikings or Packers if they win up until that point, in which case our tiebreakers will matter again for home field advantage. We don't want to travel to Green Bay here if it can be helped, and I doubt they'll make it this far. If it is us against the Vikings, we could potentially have the NFCCG in Seattle.

After that, on to the Superbowl.

/r/Seahawks Thread