Moral victories don’t count in the NFL standings. But there’s something to be said for a team that can consistently stay in games into the 4th quarter, whether or not they can pull out the win.

Sunday’s 17-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals was certainly disappointing for the 12th Man. Seattle could have clinched home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a win; instead, they must either win next Sunday against the Rams, or hope the 49ers slip up at Arizona on Week 17.

But the Hawks’ 7-point margin of defeat was their largest of the season. And it turns out that their worst of 6 total losses last season was also by 7 (their 13-6 defeat at San Francisco). You have to go all the way back to November 6, 2011 to find the last game Seattle dropped by more than a touchdown: their 23-13 loss to the Cowboys that doomed the Seahawks to 2-6. But Tarvaris Jackson’s bunch showed pride in a lost season by winning 5 of their next 6 games en route to a 7-9 final record.

Since that double-digit defeat in Dallas, the Seahawks are 28-11. But none of their 11 losses have been worse than Sunday’s… or last season’s L against the 49ers. That makes an impressive 39 consecutive games without losing by more than 7 points. Throw in last season’s 2 playoff games (a win and a 2-point loss), and Seattle is riding a 41-game streak in meaningful contests.

Where does that rank all-time? As you’ll see, it’s near the top of the list.

For help in compiling a list as exhaustive as possible, I used the invaluable Pro Football Reference. I found 179 instances since the AFL was created in 1960 and the NFL moved to a 14-game schedule in 1961 where a team had no more than 1 loss in a regular season by more than 7 points. (Three of those were this year: the Seahawks, Broncos, and Patriots. Obviously, with 1 game left, this means these streaks are all active.)

A team has done that in consecutive seasons 33 times (including 2013 qualifiers Seattle and New England). Additionally, I found 20 stand-alone seasons where a team completed an entire regular season of 14 or 16 games without losing by more than 7 — a streak could contend for the top by adding on games from the previous and/or the following year. From these 53 single- or multi-season achievements, I found the longest streak for each of these teams that incorporated at least one of the years that qualified them for research.

Believe it or not, the Seahawks’ streak of 39 regular-season games is not the longest active streak; that honor belongs to the Patriots. The week of that 23-13 Seahawks loss at Dallas? That was the start of the Patriots’ current 40-game streak, when they fell 24-20 to the Giants (which would foreshadow that year’s Super Bowl). The Pats can also tie the all-time record on this list with a good showing at Foxboro next week against the Bills — and with the AFC’s #1 seed still in sight, there’s plenty at stake for Brady & Co. to play for.

But of course, the Patriots lost 28-13 to the Ravens in last year’s AFC Championship game. What happens when we consider regular-season and postseason games? The 2011-12 Patriots are still on the list, but several spots lower. And the Seahawks come in all the way at #2.

Counting postseason games introduces at least a slight opportunity for decreased validity — a 7-point loss in the wild-card round would keep a team on the list, while 2 or 3 dominating playoff wins followed by an 8-point defeat in the Super Bowl takes them off — but it shows that (at least from the limited sample size available) the current incarnation of the Seahawks hasn’t yet withered come playoff time. But to tie Aaron Rodgers’s Packers this year, they would have to string together 4 more games of this type — which means they’d probably have to make this year’s Super Bowl.

Now, why does this mean anything substantial? Wins and championships are all that matters, right? It’s hard to argue those are paramount. But the caliber of the squads that comprise this list indicates that the Seahawks are primed to compete for years to come.

Of the 21 teams that ran off at least a 24-game streak, 18 of them made the Super Bowl during their run (and 13 of them won one). This year’s Seahawks and Broncos, if they avoid Week 17 roadblocks and go on to make the big game, can run that first number up to 20. Only the snake-bitten 1998-99 Minnesota Vikings missed out, thanks to Gary Anderson.

But what of Russell Wilson? Needless to say, he’s the first QB to begin his career with at least 24 games with no 8+ point losses (let alone the 33-game streak he currently has, including playoffs). And his company on this list is a Who’s Who of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s QB wing — disregarding those who couldn’t even pull off what Wilson has done in just 2 years.

18 quarterbacks have been significant contributors to the 21 top streaks on the overall list. 8 of the 12 Canton-eligible QBs have been inducted, with likely HOFer Kurt Warner going on the ballot after 2014. Only Earl Morrall (see note), Joe Theismann, Randall Cunningham, and Steve McNair (who rounded out the list, anyway) are on the outside looking in. Still active along with Wilson? Oh, just some guys named Brady, Manning, Rodgers, and Roethlisberger — all Super Bowl champions.

The Seahawks’ 11 losses during their streak probably doesn’t compare to the all-time juggernauts. And this could all end next week anyway with a stunning 28-20 home defeat to the Rams. But for now, the record is clear: when it comes to remaining in football games until the last possession — or winning outright — few teams have ever done it better than these Seahawks.

(Oh, and one more thing. The ‘Hawks have also won their past 8 straight preseason games, good for 49 in a row in all forms of competition. Meanwhile, the Packers’ hangover from winning Super Bowl XLV lasted long enough for a 10-point loss in their first preseason game of 2011. That would have stopped their streak at 33.) ■