In addition to the usual NFC West home games against Arizona, the Los Angeles Rams Rams and San Francisco, the Seahawks in 2018 will host the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs at CenturyLink Field.
Besides the three games with the division rivals, Seattle’s other five road games are at Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Oakland and Carolina or New Orleans. The Seahawks won’t know whether they will play at the Panthers or Saints until the NFC South is decided Sunday. The Seahawks, as No. 2 in the NFC West, will play that division’s second-place team.
The Panthers and Saints are 11-4. New Orleans currently holds the NFC’s fourth seed, Carolina the fifth. The Saints finish up at Tampa Bay, the Panthers at Atlanta.
The NFL won’t announce dates or TV information regarding the 2018 schedule until the spring, usually around the draft.
Of the teams certain to be on Seattle’s 2018 schedule, only the Rams, Vikings, Chiefs and Panthers or Saints have qualified for the 2017 playoffs. The Chargers remain a possibility.
Seattle has not faced the AFC West, its divisional home from 1977 through 2001, since 2014.
The Seahawks haven’t met the Chargers since Sept. 14, 2014 and wilted in the 94-degree heat at Qualcomm Stadium. Philip Rivers exacerbated the situation by throwing three TDs to TE Antonio Gates.
Seattle last played the Broncos Sept. 21, 2014 at CenturyLink Field, winning 26-20 in overtime, in a rematch of February’s Super Bowl in New York. The game featured two TD passes each from Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson and ended with Marshawn Lynch’s game-winning, six-yard TD run in OT.
Seattle also won its last meeting with the Raiders, 30-24 at the Clink Nov. 2, 2014. Lynch scored twice and Bruce Irvin returned a Derek Carr INT 35 yards for a touchdown.
The Seahawks (9-6) conclude their 2017 regular-season schedule at 1:25 p.m. Sunday (FOX) at the Clink against the Arizona Cardinals (7-8). With a win and an Atlanta loss to Carolina — the only scenario that will extend its season — Seattle will reach the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.