CHARLOTTE—With the win on Sunday, the Seahawks reached 13 wins for just the third time in franchise history. The other two 13-win Seattle teams were the 2005 and 2013 teams, both of which reached the Super Bowl, with the latter winning it all. Pending the results from the 49ers and Bears matchup on Sunday Night Football and the Rams and Falcons results on Monday Night Football, Seattle's Week 18 game will determine the Seahawks NFC West divisional standings, as well as the NFC's No. 1 seed, which comes with a first-round bye and homefield advantage in the playoffs.

Seattle's position this year is vastly different than where they sat just one year ago, not in control of their playoff destiny and narrowly missing the playoffs. After Sunday's win, Seattle also notched their first six-game winning streak since the end of the 2014 season.

Although Seattle has already clinched a playoff spot, the final game of the regular season against the 49ers is one the Seahawks feels has, "been a long time coming." The Seahawks opened the season with a tough loss to San Francisco at home and will play them on the road to bookend their season.

"I think everyone in the locker room feels like it's been a long time coming," Leonard Williams said. "We've played them [in] Week 1, and we're here now, and that's one of those teams that we've been looking forward to playing again."

This season, head coach Mike Macdonald has made an emphasis on going 1-0 every week and not thinking too far ahead and with Week 17 finished and taken care of, Seattle can start to shift their focus.

"As we're hitting these benchmarks, it's going to be the same message to the team because that's what's got us to this point," Macdonald said postgame. "We're going to do everything in our power to go win this one and we'll go play the next one. You know, but that's the message. It takes 100% of everybody all the time every week. Nothing changes this week. One of our goals is to win the division. It's going to come down to if we win the game we win the division, so we'll hit the next goal."

Nick Emmanwori, who's been having a remarkable rookie season said, "Whatever [next week] is for, if it's for the one seed or whatever that game is for, just trying to go in there, get a dub."

His mindset is one shared across the team, even amongst vets, some of whom have not played a playoff game in their career yet.

"It's exciting," Julian Love, who on Sunday was tied for a team-high six tackles, had an interception and a pass defensed said. "If you take a step back, it's a big game next week and I've never been in this position before. You've got to love it. You have to approach this next week with love in your heart and gratitude of—we're in a position to punch our ticket in a great way. I think the whole team is fired up. We're excited and we know that the other team across the ball is going to be trying to do the same thing. It's just these moments man [that] we just want to seize. I haven't had too many of these moments in my career so I'm ready to take it.

Throughout the season, Seattle's offense, defense and special teams have all shined in different ways. Whether it be the defense not allowing a 100-yard rusher in a league-leading 25 games, or the offense and Jaxon Smith-Njigba breaking franchise records in what feels like every other week or the special teams unit being the only one to have returned both a kick and a punt for a touchdown this season, the Seahawks have figured out a way to win. And Sunday was no different. Seattle went into halftime tied 3-3 with the Panthers and make the halftime adjustments to leave North Carolina with a 27-10 win.

"It's a win in the NFL," linebacker Uchenna Nwosu said. "Which is hard to come by. Anytime you can get one of those, you're grateful. We're on our path to success and greatness, and this is just a stop in the road, and we were able to conquer it."

With playoff seeding implications for both Seattle and San Francisco in Week 18 the players know it will be a tough matchup.

As for what that game will look like for both teams?

"A dog fight, man," Ernest Jones IV said. "I'm for sure. I'm mentally ready for it. I'm sure they are, so let's do it. It's the best division football. When those three teams rolling like we are, those are the best three teams in football, period."

Williams said, "I feel like we're just primed [for Week 18]. We've weathered the storm, we've been through tough games, tough battles, we're sitting in a good position right now. And they're another team in our division that's also playing well, and they beat us Week 1, and I feel like after all the growing that we've been through all season, I feel like we're ready to get them."