Seattle, WA

Seattle Seahawks Breakdown: Sizing up the tight NFC West race

Published

1 year ago

December 11, 2024

Seattle Seahawks Breakdown: Sizing up the tight NFC West race

Sparked by a midseason turnaround on defense, the Seattle Seahawks have rattled off a four-game win streak to surge into first place atop the razor-tight NFC West.

Unexpected Impact: 4 Seahawks key to surge back atop NFC West

With four weeks remaining in the regular season, Seattle holds the division lead at 8-5. The Los Angeles Rams are one game behind at 7-6, while the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers are both two games back at 6-7.

The NFC West is the only division in the league where all four teams are still realistically alive for the division title. All four NFC West teams are within two games of each other, whereas each of the other seven divisions have at least a four-game gap between their first-place and last-place teams.

According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Seahawks have a 52% chance to win the NFC West and 55% chance to reach the playoffs. The Rams have a 32% chance of winning the division, followed by the 49ers at 9% and the Cardinals at 7%.

Here’s a closer breakdown of the NFC West race. All odds and strength of scheduling rankings are according to ESPN.

Seattle Seahawks

Record: 8-5

NFC West title odds: 52%

Division record: 3-2

Head-to-head: 2-0 vs. Cardinals, 1-1 vs. 49ers, 0-1 vs. Rams

Remaining schedule: vs. Packers (9-4), vs. Vikings (11-2), at Bears (4-9), at Rams (7-6)

Remaining strength of schedule: 8th-hardest

Breakdown: The Seahawks are in the driver’s seat of the NFC West race, but their next two games are against Green Bay and Minnesota – who own two of the four best records in the NFC. The good news is that both matchups are at home, but Seattle is currently the underdog in both games, according to ESPN’s FPI. The Seahawks’ regular-season finale against the Rams could very well end up being a de facto NFC West title game, especially since Los Angeles currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating Seattle on the road in Week 9.

Los Angeles Rams

Record: 7-6

NFC West title odds: 32%

Division record: 2-1

Head-to-head: 1-0 vs. Seahawks, 1-0 vs. 49ers, 0-1 vs. Cardinals

Remaining schedule: at 49ers (6-7), at Jets (3-10), vs. Cardinals (6-7), vs. Seahawks (8-5)

Remaining strength of schedule: 13th-hardest

Breakdown: At the moment, the Rams are the biggest threat to the Seahawks. Los Angeles is just one game behind Seattle and currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating the Seahawks in Week 9. The Rams travel to face the 49ers on Thursday night, which will have major implications on the NFC West race. If the Rams win, they would put themselves in position to move into first place with a Seahawks loss to the Packers on Sunday night. The Rams then have a favorable matchup the following week against the 3-10 Jets, while Seattle faces 11-2 Minnesota that same day.

Arizona Cardinals

Record: 6-7

NFC West title odds: 7%

Division record: 2-2

Head-to-head: 1-0 vs. Rams, 1-0 vs. 49ers, 0-2 vs. Seahawks

Remaining schedule: vs. Patriots (3-10), at Panthers (3-10), at Rams (7-6), vs. 49ers (6-7)

Remaining strength of schedule: 28th-hardest

Breakdown: The Seahawks beat Arizona twice in the past three weeks to sweep the season series and secure the head-to-head tiebreaker between the two teams. That means Seattle’s two-game lead over Arizona is essentially a three-game lead, which would be very difficult for the Cardinals to overcome – even with their favorable closing slate.

San Francisco 49ers

Record: 6-7

NFC West title odds: 9%

Division record: 1-3

Head-to-head: 1-1 vs. Seahawks, 0-1 vs. Rams, 0-1 vs. Cardinals

Remaining schedule: vs. Rams, at Dolphins, vs. Lions, at Cardinals

Remaining strength of schedule: 7th-hardest

Breakdown: The injury-plagued 49ers are currently in last place, but they could surge right back into the mix if they beat the Rams on Thursday night – especially with the Seahawks facing challenging opponents the next two weeks. Many wrote off the 49ers as the injuries continued to pile up during their recent three-game losing streak. But as they showed with their emphatic 38-13 rout of the Bears on Sunday, the defending NFC champions can’t be counted out just yet.

Seattle Seahawks news and analysis

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Seattle, WA

Seattle to pause construction on most road construction projects for World Cup

Published

6 hours ago

March 16, 2026

Press Room

Seattle to pause construction on most road construction projects for World Cup

SEATTLE — A temporary construction pause during the 2026 World Cup will be implemented by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).

SDOT said the hiatus will run from June 8 at midnight until July 7 at midnight and will apply to “most work” on streets, sidewalks, and alleys.

“By reducing construction activity, we aim to keep traffic flowing and ensure our streets, sidewalks, and public spaces remain open and accessible while Seattle hosts the world,” SDOT said in a release. “Public space managed by the Seattle Public Library and Seattle Parks and Recreation is not included in the construction pause.”

SDOT said with hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting Seattle for the soccer matches, the pause will help reduce road congestion, clear sidewalks and streets for pedestrians and bicyclists, and allow neighborhoods to “look their best for the festivities.”

RELATED | Seattle agencies map out transit plan for downtown FIFA World Cup 2026 matches

The planned pause will conclude a week earlier than initially scheduled to help projects stay on schedule.

WSDOT separately announced in November a pause for the “Revive I-5” project that has shut down part of the Ship Canal Bridge on the major artery through Seattle.

RELATED | Long road ahead: 2 of 4 lanes of NB I-5 over Ship Canal Bridge now closed for most of year

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All lanes of I-5 will be reopened from June 8 to July 10, before construction continues through the remainder of 2026.

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Seattle, WA

Downtown Seattle Association says business taxes are pushing out employers – MyNorthwest.com

Published

18 hours ago

March 16, 2026

Press Room

Downtown Seattle Association says business taxes are pushing out employers – MyNorthwest.com

Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, called for fewer taxes on businesses in the city, saying in a recent speech, “We don’t need more business taxes in Seattle. We need more businesses in Seattle paying taxes.”

He told “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio that while the idea seems straightforward, lawmakers haven’t responded that way.

“We’ve got plenty of space for more businesses to be in Seattle, paying taxes. What’s been unfortunate over these last couple of years is there’s a billion dollars of new employer taxes that our city government has imposed on folks doing business in our city,” Scholes said.

Consequently, taxes are pushing out employers, hurting job growth, and leading to a higher vacancy rate.

“[Taxes have] contributed to jobs leaving our city and job growth on the other side of the lake, and that’s contributing to a significant office vacancy rate, collapsing commercial office values in downtown Seattle, which is then shifting the property tax burden to residents and to small businesses through their leases,” Scholes explained. “So this is something we have to reckon with as a city.”

Scholes argued Seattle’s tax structure has put the city at a competitive disadvantage compared to neighboring cities like Bellevue.

“We’ve made ourselves an outlier when it comes to where you may want to locate jobs as an employer in this region, given the different tax structures,” Scholes said. “These are taxes you’re not paying in Bellevue and other parts of the region, and it’s having an effect on where those jobs are located. So I think the attitude of city government over the years is ‘We need a lot of business taxes to raise a bunch of money and make more investments, etc,’ but it’s driving businesses out. We need more businesses paying those taxes. That’s how we strengthen and grow the job space.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Photos: Emerald City goes green for St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Seattle’s waterfront

Published

1 day ago

March 15, 2026

Press Room

Seattle’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade brought a sea of green and joyful noise to the Emerald City on Saturday. It also included a new view, marching down Seattle’s revitalized waterfront, instead of the usual route through downtown Seattle. Bagpipes, drummers, dance teams and community groups from across Puget Sound participated in the colorful parade. The Irish Heritage Club is celebrating 40 years of Seattle being a sister city with Galway, Ireland. There was a mixed pot of weather for the parade, but we can all agree that “May the wind always be at your back.” (Image: Elizabeth Crook / Seattle Refined) March 14, 2026

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