Seahawks-Panthers lives in purgatory of meaning

Whether Week 17 matters depends on what happens outside of Carolina

Normally you might think of the Carolina Panthers as a trap game because there’s a potential division title game against the 49ers in the season finale, but the strange twist to Week 17 and a reminder that the future is not real is the fact that if the Seahawks beat the Panthers there’s a scenario in which Week 18 actually does not matter.

And yet the Se…