With a 3-0 start to the season, the Seattle Seahawks had put themselves in a good position for a spot in the playoffs in Mike Macdonald’s first year at the helm.

But after three defeats in a row, the path to a playoff spot suddenly looks much more difficult.

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According to ESPN’s NFL Football Power Index, the Seahawks have the fifth-toughest remaining schedule. All 11 remaining opponents are ranked in ESPN’s FPI Top 21, including seven Top 15 opponents and four Top 8 opponents (Buffalo, San Francisco, Green Bay and Minnesota).

To clinch one of the NFC’s final wild card spots, Seattle would likely need to finish either 10-7 or 9-8. Since the NFL switched to a 17-game schedule in 2021, all nine 10-7 teams have made the playoffs. But of the 17 teams that went 9-8 during that span, only six reached the postseason. Since the Seahawks are currently 3-3, that means they should be either 7-4 or 6-5 the rest of the day.

Seattle looks to end its three-game losing streak on Sunday when it takes on the 4-2 Falcons on the road. According to ESPN’s FPI, it’s the fifth toughest game remaining on the Seahawks’ schedule.

Considering where they are and what lies ahead, is this a must-win matchup for the Hawks? On Seattle Sports’ “Bump and Stacy” on Friday, co-host Stacy Rost posed the question to producer Curtis Rogers, who was filling in for Michael Bumpus.

“I think so,” Rogers said. “They don’t have much room to lose games anymore. You’re talking about potential playoff records: 9-8, 10-7 – that’s usually what can get you into the sixth or seventh wild card spot. The Seahawks can only afford to lose four more games moving forward. … You have to figure that out quickly if you want to have a chance at the playoffs, which I think was a realistic goal for this team at the start of the season.”

Rost, meanwhile, didn’t go so far as to describe the situation as necessarily winning. She argues that competing for the Super Bowl simply isn’t realistic given how far along the Seahawks are in their development as a franchise in Macdonald’s first season as coach.

“I wouldn’t necessarily want to win it because I personally don’t see the Super Bowl as your goal this year,” Rost said. “… (But) for the health of the culture of this team, I think they desperately need a win. Mostly I just want to see how they improve as the season goes on.”

Brock and Salk’s view

Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard and co-host Mike Salk also addressed the significance of this week’s Sunday game on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Both looked at it from the perspective of the foundation Macdonald is trying to build.

“I think (that’s very important), not just for the 2024 season and the win-loss record, … but just for the psyche of your team and the players and for Mike as a young man wanting to show these guys, ‘Hey Man.’” , we can fix this. This staff can fix that. Our plan can solve this problem. “These fundamentals and techniques that we preach and everything we live and everything we do, that works,” Huard said.

“So I think it’s pretty hugely important from a psychological perspective, more so than from an analytical planning perspective.”

Salk reiterated that point.

“It’s a big week for Mike Macdonald,” Salk said. “It’s a big week for these Seahawks. It’s a big week for everyone involved. 4-3 and 3-4 themselves aren’t that different, but when you lose four in a row come Buffalo next week, that’s a very difficult situation because then it feels like you’re making all the wins Everything can quickly be thrown out the window in meetings, training, etc. if you don’t see that it translates into success on the field.”

Wyman and Bob’s view

During Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, former NFL linebacker Dave Wyman said he just wants to see improvement over the next few weeks against the Falcons, Bills and Rams before the Seahawks take on the division rival 49ers on Nov. 17 in Santa Clara. Seattle lost 36-24 to San Francisco last Thursday night, marking its sixth straight loss to the 49ers.

“Even if they lose to Atlanta, I just hope there is steady improvement so that they can get back up to speed and playing well by the second game in San Francisco,” Wyman said. “…Maybe in the next three games (against) Atlanta, Buffalo and Los Angeles, hopefully you’ll be 1-2 or 2-1. But as long as you go to San Francisco on November 17th and think, ‘Okay, this is going to be a fair fight,’ then I think they’ll be fine.”

Co-host Bob Stelton had a similar view. He wants to see the Seahawks make progress in the areas where they’ve struggled recently, particularly their porous run defense and sputtering rushing attack.

“If you lose, give me something to hold on to,” Stelton said. “Give me something to look at and say, ‘Okay, I don’t like the result, but I like what they did here.’ I like the improvement here. At least it points in the right direction.’”

Listen to the full Bump and Stacy conversation at this link or in the audio player at the top of this story. Listen to the conversation about Brock and Salk at this link or in the audio player in the middle of this story. Listen to the conversation about Wyman and Bob at this link or in the audio player at the end of this story.

More about the Seattle Seahawks

• One year removed from D-II, Seahawks rookie makes it to the NFL
• The Seahawks are ruling out three key players for Sunday’s game against Atlanta
• The problems Mark Schlereth sees in the Seattle Seahawks’ run defense
• Mike Macdonald previews the Seattle Seahawks’ Week 7 game against the Falcons
• How Seattle Seahawks forward Derick Hall performed in his second season

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