The NFC West is a crowded mess, with three of the NFL’s best teams vying for both the division crown and the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

And it just got messier.

The 49ers’ win over the Colts on Monday night improves their record to 11-4, tying them with the Rams and putting both teams one game behind the 12-3 Seahawks.

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What does it mean for Seattle? I’ll be using The Athletic’s 2025 Playoff Simulator to navigate through the next two weeks…

First, the basics. What’s next for these three teams?

The 49ers have two at home. They host the 11-4 Chicago Bears (the league’s leader in takeaways and coming off back-to-back wins) for Sunday Night Football and then host the Seahawks. The date and time on that one is TBD, usually settled late Week 17, but it’s a favorite to be another primetime matchup.

The current NFL playoff picture

The Seahawks have two on the road. They head to Carolina to take on a hungry 8-7 Panthers team, also coming off a win, that can clinch the NFC South for the first time in a decade with a victory and a Bucs’ loss to the Dolphins. Then the Seahawks head to Santa Clara to face the 49ers.

The Rams have the easiest slate, facing two teams already eliminated from the postseason. They head to play the 6-9 Falcons and then host the 3-12 Cardinals in the regular-season finale.

What are the Seahawks’ current odds of clinching the No. 1 seed?

The Seahawks entered Monday with 53% odds to clinch the No. 1 seed. There’s not a big hit from the 49ers’ win: Seattle’s odds dip to 48%, but are still the highest of the three (49ers at 27% and the Rams at 11% before games are played this upcoming Sunday).

The only thing eliminated by virtue of the 49ers’ win was the Seahawks’ ability to clinch the top seed this Sunday.

If all three NFC West teams win in Week 17, the Seahawks’ odds are right where they were: 53%. That’s how monumental Week 18’s game against the 49ers is.

Best-case scenario in Week 17: Easy. The Seahawks are the only team of the three to win this Sunday. Their odds would jump to 74%. They get the No. 1 seed one of two ways after that: beat the 49ers, or lose to the 49ers + a Lions win over the Bears.

Worst-case scenario in Week 17: The Seahawks lose, while the Rams and 49ers win. Seattle’s odds would drop to 7%. But they’re not done; in this scenario, they could still get the top seed with a win over the 49ers + a Cardinals win over the Rams.

How would the Rams clinch? The Rams’ loss to the Seahawks last Thursday night took L.A. out of the driver’s seat. The Rams’ simplest path is to: win out + the Seahawks and 49ers lose one game each + the Lions beat the Bears. The Rams need the Seahawks to lose to make up for the one-game lead, and need the Bears to lose to win a tiebreaker (conference record).

What else should we know?

Oh, that’s right, the Bears.

There’s another team here still fighting for the top seed. Chicago’s Saturday night comeback win over the Packers wasn’t just a thriller; it also added some new playoff implications.

The Bears are currently the No. 2 seed. But they have a better conference record than both the Rams and the Seahawks, so keeping a game ahead is massive.

Again, all Seattle has to do is win out. It doesn’t matter what any other team does if that happens. But things become tricky if Seattle drops a game.

In that case, if the Seahawks lose to the Panthers, root for the Lions and Cardinals. And always root against your NFC West foes.

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The Seattle Mariners have signed veteran Rob Refsnyder to add depth both in the outfield and at first base.

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The team announced a one-year contract with the free agent on Monday afternoon. The contract is worth $6.25 million with a potential extra $250,000 in incentives, according to Boston Red Sox reporter Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com.

Refsnyder, 34, played 70 games in 2025 for Boston, finishing with 1.2 fWAR. At the plate, he hit .269 with a strong .354 on-base percentage and .838 OPS. He had nine home runs, 12 doubles, 30 RBIs and three stolen bases.

“Rob has been one of the most productive hitters against left-handed pitching over the last four seasons and provides balance and impact offensively to our lineup,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said in a press release. “We are excited to welcome Rob and his family to the Mariners.”

Refsnyder hit .302 against lefties with a .399 on-base and .560 slugging last season. Seven of his nine homers and nine of his 12 doubles came against lefties, which he faced 138 times as opposed to 71 plate appearances against right-handed pitching.

Born in South Korea, Refsnyder attended Laguna Hills High School in California and played in college at Arizona. He was a fifth-round pick in the 2012 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees.

The 6-foot, 215-pound Refsnyder is a 10-year MLB veteran, having spent time with the Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Red Sox. He had been with the Red Sox for each of the past four seasons.

Refsnyder has never played more than 93 games in a single MLB season but has solid offensive numbers with a career .255/.343/.387 slash line for a .730 OPS.

While the Mariners listed Refsnyder as an outfielder/first baseman, he has just 29 career appearances at first, and he last played the position in an MLB game in 2020. Refsnyder has 356 career appearances in the outfield, as well as 43 career appearances at second base.

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Refsnyder, who hits right-handed, gives the Mariners a backup option behind one-time All-Star first baseman Josh Naylor, who Seattle re-signed to a five-year contract early this offseason.

The Mariners add Refsnyder to a list of additions in free agency that includes Naylor and backup catcher Andrew Knizner. Seattle also added left-handed reliever Jose Ferrer in a trade with the Washington Nationals.

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An anonymous donor stepped in last month to save a Seattle-area community center that was slated to close.

Last week, community members learned that the new owner was travel writer and TV host Rick Steves, who pledged to keep it open and free for people needing hot showers and hot meals.

“I vividly remember what it’s like as a kid backpacking around the world to need a shower, to need a place to wash your clothes,” Steves told a crowd who gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the purchase over cake and with words fait accompli written in red icing.

Many homeless people had come to depend on the Lynnwood Hygiene Center, which had operated rent-free on the property since 2020.

But the center said in November that it would close after the property was sold to a developer.

Steves said he learned about the hygiene center’s impending closure by reading about it in a local online newspaper — just weeks before it was set to shut down.

Despite living nearby, he said he hadn’t even known the center existed.

In fact, Steves told NPR he didn’t even know what a hygiene center was until he read about the closure — a place where people can shower, wash clothes, grab a hot meal and spend a few hours indoors.

“I realized, oh my goodness, there’s an invisible community with an invisible center helping invisible people. And it’s not right. It needs to be kept alive,” Steves said.

In a series of posts on Bluesky, Steves said was struck by how difficult it would be to replace.

Steves said he bought the property for $2.25 million.

Members of the community pitched in another $400,000 in donations, which the center says will go toward renovations and expanding services.

“It’s huge,” said Sandra Mears, executive director of the Jean Kim Foundation, which runs the hygiene center.

Mears says before Steves came in, she had been told to plan a goodbye party.

“I didn’t want a goodbye party,” she said.

Thanks to the donations, Mears says the Lynnwood Hygiene Center will continue serving around 700 people in the community, providing upwards of 16,000 hot meals and 10,000 showers a year.

Steves called the purchase the best $2.25 million he could imagine spending.

But he says private donations are also not a substitute for public investment — and shouldn’t determine whether essential services survive.

He describes his decision as a response to what he sees as a failure of public priorities, not a model to be relied upon.

“If we don’t have [$2.25 million] for a whole county to give homeless people a shower and a place to get out of the rain and a place to wash their clothes, what kind of society are we?” Steves said.