The Seattle Seahawks haven’t clinched a playoff spot yet

Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey , but they’re 99% of the way there and just need to beat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday to secure their place in the postseason. In the Russell Wilson era, the Seahawks have never had “nothing to play for” late in the regular season. Just look at previous Week 17s:2012 - Needed a win and a 49ers loss to win the NFC West. 2013 - Needed a win or a 49ers loss to clinch the NFC West and the #1 seed.2014 - Needed a win or a Cardinals loss to clinch the NFC West and the #1 seed.2015 - Needed a win to have a chance at the #5 seed, ultimately finished as the #6 seed.2016 - Needed a win and a Falcons loss to earn the #2 seed. Once this was out of reach, Trevone Boykin played the final few minutes of Seattle’s win against the 49ers.2017 - Needed a win and a Falcons loss to get into the playoffs.It’s a bit different in 2018. The Los Angeles Rams have already won the NFC West, so should the Seahawks make the playoffs as expected, the only thing to tidy up would be whether or not they’d be the #5 or #6 seed.Seattle is currently 1.5 games up on the Minnesota Vikings, and two games clear of everyone else in the wild card race. They can clinch the #5 seed as early as Week 15 if the following happens:Seahawks win AND:Vikings tie or lose to DolphinsThat’s it.The Panthers are 6-7 but don’t have the tiebreaker on the Seahawks http://www.theseahawksfanshop.com/Cody-Barton-Jersey , so they do not matter in this story. Washington and Philadelphia play each other in Week 17 so they both can’t finish 9-7, and even so neither one of them has a tiebreaker over the Seahawks. The Vikings can still finish above if they win out and the Seahawks finish 9-7.This means that there is a non-zero chance the Chiefs vs. Seahawks game in Week 16 is meaningless to both sides, with Kansas City potentially having clinched the #1 seed in the AFC and Seattle the #5 seed in the NFC.As much as Pete likes to “Always Compete,” I’d have to think he’d be willing to not play Russell Wilson and others for full games if they know their fate this early. Yeah, it wouldn’t make for good primetime TV to see Chad Henne vs. Brett Hundley, but Andy Reid is historically very willing to not play his starters when he’s got his seeding locked up.Of course, we can’t get too carried away. The Seahawks have to do their part this Sunday D.K. Metcalf Jersey , but it’s crazy that we’re talking about the Seahawks having the opportunity to rest starters with two weeks to spare when they were 4-5 this time last month. The Seattle Seahawks will face the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams minus running back Chris Carson and guard D.J. Fluker.Carson is out with a hip injury that bothered him last week, while Fluker is sidelined by a calf injury. Fluker’s absence is notable given that he won’t have an opportunity to back up his criticism of the Rams’ toughness following the Seahawks’ 33-31 loss to Los Angeles at Seattle last month.The Miami Dolphins are down three starters on the offensive line against the Green Bay Packers, including both starting tackles.Left tackle Laremy Tunsil has knee and ankle injuries, while right tackle Ja’Wuan James has a knee injury. They were questionable coming into Sunday.Guard Ted Larsen was doubtful with a neck injury.For the Packers, receiver Randall Cobb is inactive again after a setback with his hamstring injury this week in practice. Green Bay also placed Geronimo Allison on injured reserve this week, so rookies Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown will play bigger roles in the offense.Packers starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga is active after being listed as questionable with a knee injury.Here are the inactives for Sunday’s Week 10 games:MIAMI-GREEN BAYDolphins: QB Ryan Tannehill, OL Ted Larsen http://www.theseahawksfanshop.com/Marquise-Blair-Jersey , T Ja’Wuan James, DE Jonathan Woodard, T Laremy Tunsil, TE Durham Smythe, DE Charles Harris.Packers: QB Tim Boyle, WR Randall Cobb, CB Kevin King L.J. Collier Jersey , CB Will Redmond, S Ibraheim Campbell, OL Alex Light.