Week 8 of the 2026 NFL season ends with the Seattle Seahawks taking on the Chicago Bears, but it starts with a Thursday Night Football game that could be relevant to the Seahawks in the postseason race.
The Carolina Panthers are 3-3 and reeling after a horrific loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Damien Lewis and Jaelan Phillips are out, while Taylor Moton ain’t back for another year after breaking his fibula. Carolina’s offensive line is banged up and they’re down both starting cornerbacks Mike Jackson
Sr. and Jaycee Horn. But other than that, the Panthers are in good shape because the NFC South is its usually horrible self.
It was a tough loss for the 4-3 Green Bay Packers against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Questionable officiating, awful kicking woes, and the usual set of dropped passes led to the Packers falling 20-17 to Detroit. They started out 1-2, looked much improved over their three-game winning streak, but in the daunting NFC North they’re playing catch-up given their 1-2 division record.
How this game affects the Seattle Seahawks
I know you probably don’t care about Wild Card seeding in Week 8, but we’re here to provide information. There’s a really good chance that the NFC South winner will finish with a worse record than the NFC West winner, and the runner-up won’t be in the Wild Card chase. We can almost bank on multiple NFC North teams reaching the playoffs, so the Packers losing would matter to some degree.
If the Packers lose, this is what the standings would look like:
1. Minnesota Vikings (6-0)
2. San Francisco 49ers (6-1)
3. New York Giants (4-2-1)
4. Carolina Panthers (4-3)
5. Chicago Bears (5-2)
6. Detroit Lions (4-2)
7. Seattle Seahawks (4-3)
8. Green Bay Packers (4-4)
9. Atlanta Falcons (3-4, 3-2 NFC)
10. Los Angeles Rams (3-4, 2-2 NFC)
11. Dallas Cowboys (3-4, 2-3 NFC)
12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5, 1-0 NFCS)
13. New Orleans Saints (2-5, 0-1 NFCS, 1-3 NFC)
14. Arizona Cardinals (2-5, 1-4 NFC, 3 Strength of Victory)
15. Philadelphia Eagles (2-5, 1-4 NFC, 2.5 Strength of Victory)
16. Washington Commanders (1-4-1)
The worse the NFC is in terms of Wild Card caliber teams, the better it is for the Seahawks as far as having a playoff safety net in case the division title is beyond their reach. So go Panthers! Go Dave Canales! Go Bryce Young! Go Jake Curhan! Go David Moore!
Join us in the comments for tonight’s game at Lambeau Field, starting at 5:15 pm PT on Prime Video!
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
- New, improved notifications system!
Download the SB Nation app on iOS or Android.
