When we’ll know who and when Seahawks play in playoffs

Jan 9, 2026, 12:50 PM | Updated: 1:34 pm

Editor, Seattle Sports

With the Seattle Seahawks sitting out the first weekend of the NFL playoffs thanks to their bye earned as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, there are two questions on the top of every fan’s mind.

When do the Seahawks play next? And who will they be playing?

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Because of the nature of the NFL’s postseason format, we don’t know the answer to either question yet. But we know when we’ll know the answers… more or less.

Let’s detail what we know.

When will we know Seattle Seahawks’ first playoff opponent?

This could be answered as soon as Saturday night, but is more likely to be known Sunday night.

The lowest-remaining seed in the conference will be sent to play the Seahawks in the NFC Divisional Round next weekend. And if the lowest seed in the bracket, the No. 7 Green Bay Packers, beat the second-seeded Chicago Bears in a 5 p.m. Saturday game, then we’ll know the Packers will be headed to Lumen Field.

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Should the Bears beat the Packers, then the answer will come Sunday. In this scenario, if the sixth-seeded San Francisco 49ers upset the No. 3 seed Philadelphia Eagles in their 1:30 p.m. game, the 49ers will be Seattle’s opponent. And if the 49ers lose, then the winner of Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. game between the No. 4 Carolina Panthers and No. 5 Los Angeles Rams will match up the following week with the Seahawks.

When will we know Seahawks’ playoff game time?

Most likely Sunday night, as that was the case last season.

There are two games in the wild card round on Saturday, two games on Sunday, and the final one at 5:15 p.m. Monday – same as a year ago. The NFL did not wait until the Monday game to assign game times for the two NFC Divisional Round and two AFC Divisional Round contents in January 2025, but there’s no official declaration from the league on when it will announce the following week’s schedule, so there’s still the possibility nothing will be set until after the Monday game.

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That being said, the only thing that could possibly still be unknown after Sunday’s games is who the AFC No. 1 seed Denver Broncos will face in the divisional round. And even then, it would at least be set that the winner of the 4 seed/5 seed game Monday between the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers will go to Denver the following weekend. With that much information on Sunday night, it’s safe to expect the NFL will have an updated bracket complete with games times and matchups for the divisional round sent out shortly after the Sunday night game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers.

The unassigned kickoff times for the four games in the divisional round are 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17, and noon and 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18.