After dropping a tough 27-24 contest to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks no longer control their own destiny and to win the NFC West, they will have to have several dominos fall their way beyond simply winning their final two games.

As their first order of business, Geno Smith and the Seahawks will have to travel to Chicago on the day after Christmas and defeat the Bears at Soldier Field. A loss or a tie on Thursday night would not eliminate them from playoff contention, but in that scenario, the Rams would lock up the division by beating the Cardinals on Sunday, making the upcoming rematch between the two teams in Week 18 a non-factor in deciding the NFC West.

But even if Seattle does beat Chicago on the road, however, that will not guarantee the season finale ends up being a winner-take-all battle at SoFi Stadium in the final week. If Los Angeles beats Arizona, they will improve to 4-1 in the NFC West, meaning the worst they can finish for the season is with a 4-2 record, which would tie Seattle after a loss in the season finale.

Along with being equal with that tiebreaker and splitting their head-to-head series, the Seahawks and Rams would both have identical 4-4 records against similar opponents and the same conference record, making strength of victory the next tiebreaker to determine who would win the division. Going into Week 17, Los Angeles holds a nine-game advantage in that category after being Buffalo and Minnesota earlier this year, meaning Seattle will need teams that it beat earlier in the season to step up and win games this weekend to keep them alive in the title race and close that gap.

Specifically, per an official memo from the NFL, the Seahawks will need four wins from Packers, Jets, Lions, Falcons, Broncos, or Dolphins out of six games this weekend to stay in the NFC West hunt if both they and the Rams win in Week 17. In other words, they would need a ton of help from other teams to ensure that the season finale becomes a division title game.

In a more simple pathway to the division title and a home playoff game, if the Seahawks and Rams both lose this weekend, the winner of their Week 18 rematch would be the NFC West winner no matter what else happens around the league.

Considering all of those scenarios and the possibility that the Seahawks may or may not be in contention anymore next week regardless of whether they beat the Bears or not, 12s better buckle up, as the next several days should be quite interesting with playoff races reaching the final stretch during the holiday season.

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SEATTLE (AP) — Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe set career highs with 23 points and 16 rebounds, John Christofilis had two four-point plays and scored 21 and Seattle University beat Washington 79-70 on Monday night, ending a 19-game losing streak to the Huskies that spanned 48 years.

Moncrieffe sank 7 of 11 shots and 9 of 10 free throws for the Redhawks (5-8), who last beat the Huskies 82-76 in 1976. Seattle U nearly ended the skid last season before losing 100-99 in overtime. Moncrieffe notched his sixth double-double of the season. Houran Dan and Paris Dawson both scored 10.

Christofilis had a four-point play and scored six as Seattle U jumped out to a 16-3 lead with 12:24 to go in the first half. The Huskies (8-4) went scoreless over the final 2:04 and trailed 38-23 at halftime.

Moncrieffe scored seven in a 12-5 run in the first 4:30 of the second half and Seattle U pushed its lead to 22. Tyler Harris scored the first 10 points of the half for Washington and Zoom Diallo scored seven in a row later to get the Huskies within 54-45 with 9:27 left to play. Christofilis answered with another four-point play and the Redhawks maintained a double-digit lead until the final 21 seconds.

Harris scored 20 to lead Washington. Great Osobor totaled 19 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double this season. Diallo scored 13 off the bench before fouling out.

Seattle U made 29 of 32 free throws (90.6%) while Washington was 16 for 23 (69.6%).

The Huskies lead the series 35-5 — losing twice in 22 home games.

Washington will host NJIT on Sunday. Seattle U will host Nicholls on Monday.

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Officers responded to a seemingly random stabbing in Seattle on Monday.

Seattle Police Department Detective Brian Pritchard with the public affairs department confirmed to MyNorthwest 911 received reports of a stabbing inside a business in the 3800 block of Rainier Avenue South, near the Rainier Valley Square shopping area, at 2:39 p.m.

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Pritchard said when officers arrived at the business, they found a 37-year-old man outside the store suffering from a stab wound to the chest.

Police provided medical aid until the Seattle Fire Department got there. The man was then taken to Harborview Medical Center in stable condition, with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Pritchard.

Officers then went into the store and found a 57-year-old man allegedly trying to get into a storage room where an employee had locked themselves in. Pritchard said police quickly took the suspect into custody without incident.

Witnesses told officers the suspect entered the store and appeared to be in a crisis. Then, a short time later, the victim came into the store. There was a brief non-confrontational conversation between the two before the suspect allegedly pulled a knife from his jacket and stabbed the victim in the chest.

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The victim then ran out of the store to escape the suspect and the suspect stayed inside where he was later taken into custody, reported Pritchard.

The suspect was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for investigation of assault. However, Pritchard noted this is an initial report and the investigation is ongoing.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.