The Seattle Seahawks' final place in the NFC West was confirmed with Sunday's horrors, yet somehow the Chicago Bears suffered a slight 25–24 loss. With a few games left in the season, we officially know that the Seahawks will play opponents in 2022.
Now keep in mind that despite my sensational title being specifically designed to generate additional traffic, we cannot predict how good or bad the team will be in the future. But especially from the 2021 season onwards, the Seahawks' 2022 schedule is looking downright awful.
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San Francisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Exact dates and times will be known in May.
Most of these opponents were already well known, but Seattle's last-place finish means they play last-place teams in the AFC East, NFC East and NFC North. He had an outside chance to run the table and rely on a collapse to move past the San Francisco 49ers into third, but he's out the door.
Let's put aside the usual divisional opponents and focus on the non-divisional part of the schedule. The AFC West features the mighty Kansas City Chiefs, the rising Los Angeles Chargers (who somehow lost to the Houston Texans but otherwise could still make the playoffs), the Las Vegas Raiders and the Denver Broncos. Only Denver among that quartet is under .500 and they're 7-8 with barely capable quarterback play and a ton of injuries on defense.
There's Tom Brady and the Books in the NFC South, and I don't think Brady is retiring any time soon. Even with the carousel on QB for the Saints, they are 7-7 and have one of the league's best defenses. The Falcons are somehow 7-8 but Kyle Pitts could be a superstar on the tight end whether Matt Ryan is quarterback next season or not. We know that playing the Panthers is always a pain, no matter how good or bad they are.
Finally, the final location schedule includes the Detroit Lions, New York Giants, and yes... the New York Jets. Probably one of his top-10 picks he took through the Seahawks was trading Jamal Adams for his first time.
As things stand, half of the Seahawks' 14 opponents for the 2022 season are above .500 and that could rise to 8 if the Saints win on Monday night. Yeah, you better hope some of these teams are finished next year.