It would have been nice for the Seahawks to win in Kansas City — if only for the Hawks to show they can beat a good team, something they haven’t done since they beat Denver in Week 3.

If the Hawks had been able to tackle better, convert a third or fourth down in the fourth quarter or perhaps get a call or two to go their way, they might have avoided falling three games behind streaking Arizona (9-1, with six straight wins) as the two prepare to meet for the first time this week in Seattle.

Instead, the Hawks are 6-4 as they prepare for a season-defining final six games. They likely will need to win five of them to make the playoffs.

The Hawks are a game behind in the wild-card race, where they own a head-to-head tiebreaker over Green Bay (7-3) but lose one against Dallas (7-3).

The Hawks face a finishing slate as tough as any in the league: Arizona, at San Francisco (6-4), at Philadelphia (7-3), San Francisco, at Arizona, St. Louis (4-6).

“This last six-week surge here in the schedule will be incredible matchups for everybody in our division, for sure, and it gives everybody a great opportunity to do something really good with this season,” coach Pete Carroll said. “We’re going to go for it, and it starts off with Arizona. … That’s going to be a great challenge. They’re having a great year, too, so it’s a big week for us right now.”

The Seahawks have been heavily affected by injuries this season — they have played a big role in losses to Dallas (secondary), St. Louis (special teams) and Kansas City (front seven).

The hits keep on coming, too, as the Seahawks won’t have center Max Unger for 3-4 weeks because of a high ankle sprain and twisted knee suffered vs. the Chiefs.

Marshawn Lynch is “banged up,” as Carroll put it Monday, with back, calf and rib problems. But it would be a surprise if he missed a game.

“It’s classic wear and tear on a guy that plays the game the way he plays,” Carroll said. “We had to give him an extra day last week before we practiced him, and we will see how it goes this week. I think it’s pretty typical and he’s been one to really be able to endure it over the past few years.”

On the bright side, the team could regain the services of linebackers Bobby Wagner and Brock Coyle, left guard James Carpenter and cornerback Marcus Burley.

“Bobby had a great workout at the game and he had a great one again (Monday),” Carroll said. “That puts him in position to practice on Wednesday. We will see how he does and see how he takes it. He will have a chance to play this week, if all goes well for him, which would be awesome. We’ve missed him for so long; I can’t even remember the last time he played. It will be great to have him back.”

For the first time in weeks, “We could have decisions to make on the final roster, which is a good thing,” Carroll said, “and we will see if we can get to that.”

As for the loss to the Chiefs, the Seattle defense simply could not stop the run. Jamaal Charles ran for 159 yards, averaging 8 per carry, and scored twice.

It wasn’t all due to Brandon Mebane being out for the season, but that certainly played a big part: Charles’ longest runs — 47 and 28 yards — came up the middle. He also busted off 16- and 14-yard runs to the outside.

“The big runs by those guys really were the difference in the game for us,” Carroll said. “We were not as precise with our fits, and that’s why some of those runs got out. That had to do with missed fits here and there — I think some guys in new places did affect us a bit.

“We have been so steady with Brandon for so long that that allowed other guys to play in their spots. It wasn’t so much at the nose tackle spot; it was just other guys having to fill in and all, so our rotations didn’t work out as sharp as we would like. But it wasn’t just the guys up front. We needed to fit the whole running game better than we did.”

It’s not like the Hawks’ performance against the run should have come as any surprise. They had faced only one other running game as good as the Chiefs — and the Cowboys had run over them, too. That was with Mebane. They weren’t elite with him, and they might not be any good at all without him.

Despite their woeful performance against the run, the Hawks still had chances to win in the fourth quarter. With his defense flailing against KC, Carroll was correct to go for it on fourth down from the KC 2-yard line with 7:11 left.

That was a key play for two reasons: (1) Darrell Bevell eschewed Lynch in favor of a pass play and (2) Doug Baldwin was bumped off his route by Sean Smith, but the penalty was not called.

Bevell’s play calling left a lot to be desired throughout the game, as he strayed from a very successful running attack too often. If the Hawks had run Lynch on that fourth-and-goal, they had a better than 50 percent chance of scoring. The Seattle coaches might have been scared by the fact that Unger had been injured three plays before.

After Unger was hurt, Lynch ran three more times for just four yards. Bevell did call his number on a huge fourth-and-1 at the KC 36, and Lynch was stuffed for no gain right up the middle behind Patrick Lewis and J.R. Sweezy.

The Baldwin non-call was perhaps the most egregious miss by the refs on a day when the Seahawks once again were dominated in the penalty game. They were called eight times for 50 yards, while the Chiefs were penalized three times for a mere six yards. Bill Leavy’s crew missed several obvious calls against the Chiefs, particularly in the secondary.

Carroll was baffled by the Baldwin miss because it was clear Smith bumped him.

“It was not a major hit, but he couldn’t get to the ball because he got knocked,” Carroll said, “so that means to me that he was interfered with trying to make the catch. I don’t know how the league will come back on that one (i.e., justify the call), but as incidental as it is, it still got in the way of him making a clean shot at catching the football.”

This game was this third time this season that Seattle was flagged for at least 40 more yards in penalties than the opponent — all three on the road. The Hawks still managed to beat Washington, but they lost in Missouri both times (St. Louis and KC).