RENTON, Wash. — Now the schedule turns for the Seattle Seahawks, who got healthy — at least in the win column — the last three weeks against some of the dregs of the NFL and now have to continue against the upper crust.

Seattle, 3-3 after a loss at the St. Louis Rams on Oct. 19, is now 6-3 thanks to wins against the Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders and the New York Giants, three teams that are a combined 6-21-1 this season.

Now Seattle begins a six-game stretch against winning teams that all harbor playoff hopes, starting with a contest Sunday at the Kansas City Chiefs.

After that comes a home game against the Arizona Cardinals, then trips to the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, followed by a home game against the 49ers and another trip to Arizona. Those teams have a combined record of 27-10.

So yes, merely getting back to the playoffs figures to be daunting for the Seahawks, let alone again earning a home game or the top seed in the NFC.

As might be expected, coach Pete Carroll said all he’s worried about for now is Sunday’s game at Kansas City against a 6-3 Chiefs team that has won six of its past seven.

“We are going to try to keep getting better and see if that will be good enough to get us a really big-time opportunity here going against Kansas City,” he said. “So we’re looking forward to this.”

The game features a number of interesting statistical oddities.

For one, the Chiefs have not allowed a rushing touchdown this season while Seattle is coming off a game in which it just tied a franchise record with five rushing touchdowns in a 38-17 win over the Giants.

In fact, the running games on both sides of the ball for each team are impressive, with the Seahawks ranking first in the NFL at 170.9 yards per game led by Marshawn Lynch and Kansas City fifth at 135.8 with the two-headed attack of Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis.

“There are similarities in style,” Carroll said of the rushing attacks of the Seahawks and Chiefs. “There’s a lot of zone running game and the quarterback can run too. There are some similarities there. The style of the running backs is much different. They’re really on different ends of the spectrum.”

The Chiefs also enter the game with the No. 1-ranked pass defense in the NFL, allowing just 205.3 yards per game, while Seattle is 31st in passing offense at 194.4.

That would seem to make this a contest in which the Seahawks will have to get the running game going to have any real chance.

“They do everything well,” Carroll said of Kansas City. “This is a team that has closed in on a lot of areas to execute really well. They’re really good on third-down. They’re really good in short-down situations. They’re really good in the passing game. They’re the leading pass defense team in the NFL, they’re right there.”

The Seahawks, meanwhile, are coming off a week in which they lost one key player to a new injury — defensive tackle Brandon Mebane — and learned that another will not be able to make it back this year — tight end Zach Miller.

Mebane suffered a hamstring injury against the Giants and was placed on Injured Reserve on Tuesday. Miller, who had surgery in late September following the third game of the season, was placed on IR on Wednesday after it became apparent that he will not be able to make it back this year.

Carroll, though, said that the injuries, while unfortunate, are just part of the reality of the NFL and he’s confident Seattle has the players in place to continue the momentum the team gained in winning its last three.

SERIES HISTORY: 51st all-time meeting. Chiefs lead the series 32-18, most of the games coming in the days when the teams were each in the AFC West. The two have played just twice since 2002, each Kansas City wins, the last a 42-24 Chiefs win in Seattle in 2010.

MEDICAL WATCH:

— S Kam Chancellor, who missed the last two games with a groin injury, is expected to return to play Sunday. The games he missed were the first since 2011.

— MLB Bobby Wagner remains out with a toe injury that has held him out the last three games.

— OL James Carpenter is likely to miss a second straight game with a sprained ankle suffered against the Raiders. He will again be replaced by Alvin Bailey.

— LB Malcolm Smith, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, should play this week after missing the last two games with a strained groin.

— TE Luke Willson, now the starter for the rest of the season with Zach Miller on IR, sat out practice Wednesday with a sprained ankle but has a chance to play against the Chiefs. The backups there are Cooper Helfet, Tony Moeaki and RaShaun Allen.

— RB Marshawn Lynch sat out practice Wednesday with a calf injury. But it’s not considered serious — he also missed practice last Thursday with the calf injury before then scoring four touchdowns and rushing for 140 yards against the Giants.

— CB Marcus Burley continues to struggle with a hamstring injury.

— MLB Brock Coyle missed practice Wednesday with a glute injury. Seattle on Wednesday signed Allen Bradford off Cleveland’s practice squad to add depth, with Wagner also still out. Bradford played the opener for Seattle in 2013 before being released.

GAMEPLAN: Can the Seahawks continue to win with an offense averaging more yards rushing than passing, as is now the case over the last three weeks after the 350-yard outburst against the New York Giants Sunday? Seattle probably isn’t counting on it, especially with the Chiefs featuring a stingy red zone defense that has yet to allow a rushing touchdown this season.

While the Seahawks can be expected to continue to feature the running of Marshawn Lynch, paired with the able legs of quarterback Russell Wilson, they are going to have to throw the ball at times, something that won’t be easy against a Kansas City pass defense that is ranked No. 1 in the NFL, allowing just 205.3 yards per game. But with cold temperatures, and possibly even snow, expected on Sunday, the ground game figures to be the focus of Seattle’s offense.

Defensively, the Seahawks will look to put the clamps on Kansas City’s offense in early downs to try to force Alex Smith out of his comfort zone and attempt longer throws on third downs. The Chiefs are one of the best in the NFL at converting third downs in part because they often have manageable distances.

But Seattle’s run defense will have a new look with nose tackle Brandon Mebane now out for the season. Veteran Kevin Williams will get the first call to step in but Jordan Hill and Tony McDaniel will also get more play inside as the Seahawks look to contain Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis.

Seattle has brought more defensive pressure the last few week, especially with linebackers K.J. Wright and Kevin Pierre-Louis, and that could continue.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

–Kansas City OLB Justin Houston vs. Seattle OTs Russell Okung and Justin Britt: Houston has 12 sacks this season, almost as many as Seattle’s 13 as a team. And while he lines up all over the line, he has had his most success this season when aligned on the left side of the defense. Britt, a rookie, has had some predictable struggles this season with good pass rushers, most recently with Oakland’s Khalil Mack. He won’t have to do it alone Sunday to stop Houston, but he’ll have to do his share.

–Seattle defensive tackles Tony McDaniel, Jordan Hill and Kevin Williams against Kansas City’s running game. Seattle leads the NFL in allowing just 3.2 yards per carry. But the Seahawks haven’t played an offense as good as the Chiefs in more than a month, when it gave up 30 points in a home loss to Dallas. And now the Seahawks are without starting defensive Brandon Mebane for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury. That means McDaniel, Hill and Williams will all be called on to play more up front and replace the snaps of Mebane.

–Seattle QB Russell Wilson against Kansas City secondary: Wilson has struggled the last three weeks against statistically subpar pass defenses. Now he faces a Kansas City team that leads the NFL in fewest passing yards allowed per game at 205.3 per game. It’ll be up to more than Wilson to get the passing attack working against the Chiefs, But Wilson also has to get better than he has been the last few weeks, when he has been uncharacteristically off target while also being more careless with the ball than is usual. He had two interceptions against the Giants, each easily preventable. He can’t make similar mistakes on the road.