The Seahawks face the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in an NFC divisional playoff game on Sunday at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Fox. This became official when the Eagles defeated the New York Giants this afternoon. My bosses would like to thank the Eagles for winning that game because flying to Chicago is much, much cheaper than flying to New Orleans.

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The Seahawks will play either New Orleans on Saturday at 5 p.m. Pacific time on Fox, or they will play Chicago on Sunday at 10 a.m. Pacific time, also on Fox. See the potential pairings here. The Hawks go to New Orleans if the Giants upset the Eagles today. Otherwise, the Hawks go to Chicago for a rematch of the Bears' dominating victory early in the season.

There is one way for the NFC title game to be in Seattle: The Giants beat the Eagles and Bears, and the Seahawks beat the Saints.

NFL.com's Pat Kirwan takes a look at which playoff seeds have produced the most Super Bowl teams over the last 16 seasons. The top two seeds have produced 26 of 32 entrants. Fourth seeds have produced four entrants, more than the third (1), fifth (0) and sixth (1) combined. Read the column here. Seattle is the fourth seed in the NFC this season.

The Seahawks and Cowboys play Saturday night at 5 Pacific time in a wild-card game at Qwest Field. Tickets go on sale Tuesday.

From a team release: "Single-game playoff tickets will go on sale Tuesday, January 2, at 10 a.m. for the Seahawks NFC Wild Card Playoff Game, the team announced today. The Wild Card Game will be played Saturday, January 6, at 5 p.m. PT against the Dallas Cowboys. Tickets may be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 206/622-HAWK or online at www.seahawks.com. There will be a limit of four tickets per person and may be purchased by credit card only. Tickets are limited and are expected to sell out within the first thirty minutes. There will be no sales at the Qwest Field box office and Ticketmaster outlets. The Seahawks have sold out 34 consecutive games. The Seahawks Blue Pride waiting list has grown to over 5,500. To join, call 888-NFL-HAWK."

The plan last night had been to watch the Giants-Redskins game, except that it was on NFL Network, which means 12 people saw the game live on television. I wasn't one of them because the hotel's channel lineup includes USA Network, PBS and Cartoon Netowrk, but not the league's network. ESPN did have a classic boxing marathon, though, so I watched the Thrilla in Manila for about the 50th time. My favorite part is at the end, when Ferdinand Marcos presents Muhammad Ali with a trophy. Marcos quips that he had bet on Ali at 2-1 odds. Ali, bigger in life than world leaders, hits him back in stride with, "Although you don't need the money."

In any event, the Giants have all but clinched the sixth spot in the NFC playoff race. That becomes official if Detroit loses at Dallas, or if Minnesota loses to the Rams, or if two of the following things happen: Arizona loses, Miami loses, San Francisco loses, Carolina wins, Houston wins, Tampa Bay wins.

That means the top six teams in the NFC are pretty much set. Now we just need to see which team will visit Seattle as the fifth seed. The Cowboys are coming to Seattle if the Eagles win or the Cowboys lose. The Eagles are coming to Seattle if they lose and the Cowboys win.

The NFC playoff picture is taking shape. Chicago is the top seed. New Orleans is the second seed. Those teams get first-round byes. Seattle is the fourth seed. Those things are set. We also know that the NFC East runnerup (Dallas or Philadelphia) will visit Qwest Field as the fifth seed in a wild-card playoff game on Jan. 6 or 7. Here is what you need to know: If the Eagles win next week, they keep the third seed and the Cowboys visit Seattle. If the Cowboys lose next week, they visit Seattle. If the Eagles lose next week and the Cowboys win, the Eagles visit Seattle in the wild-card round. There you have it.

Thanks to the NFL for putting out an updated list of playoff scenarios heading into the games tonight. There isn't new information on the Seahawks, but this does provide a good overview of where the playoff races stand.

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The NFL has yet to confirm which teams Seattle could face in the wild-card game Jan. 6 or 7. The Seahawks get their information from the NFL, and they do not have confirmation, either. I wrote last night on the blog that Philadelphia or Dallas would visit Seattle. This was based on calculations made in the press box among several reporters and the Seahawks media-relations people.

In retrospect, this might not be correct because, according to the very limited information provided by the league, the Eagles have not yet clinched a playoff berth. So, if the Eagles miss the playoffs, the Cowboys would win the NFC East as the second or third seed. This would send another team to Seattle as the fifth seed in the NFC. The Giants, Packers, Panthers, Falcons and Rams are still in the playoff hunt.

We are confident that Seattle will be the fourth seed in the NFC. This is because division winners comprise the top four seeds, and three division winners will have at least as many victories as Seattle and a better NFC record. Chicago and New Orleans already have more victories than Seattle can achieve. If Dallas beats Philadelphia tonight, the Cowboys would win the NFC East and have more victories than Seattle can achieve. If the Eagles win, they would finish with at least as many victories as Seattle, and a better NFC record.

We hope to receive a more definitive breakdown from the league at some point today. Full tiebreaking procedures are here. Conference standings are here.

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The Seahawks are fourth in the NFC and that is where they'll stay. I need to confirm that, but in looking at the standings quickly, that appears to be accurate. It's looking like either Philadelphia or Dallas will visit Qwest Field for a wild-card game. One of those teams will be the fifth seed.

The Seahawks have clinched their third consecutive NFC West title after Arizona defeated the 49ers in San Francisco. We still have 9:30 left in this game.

The NFL provides updated playoff scenarios each week late in the season. The NFC West race is pretty simple. The Seahawks win the division if they win one more game, or if the 49ers lose one more game. The full playoff picture is below.

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One thing we know about the playoff picture: The Seahawks can't be worse than fourth in the NFC as long as they lead their division. The top six at present (before the Sunday games): Chicago 11-2, New Orleans 9-4, Dallas 9-5, Seattle 8-6, NY Giants 7-6 and Philadelphia 7-6. The top four will not change no matter what happens today.