What’s going on with the jumbled NFC West? Insider weighs in
Nov 23, 2024, 11:38 AM | Updated: 11:45 am
Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers is tackled by Boye Mafe of the Seattle Seahawks during a 2024 game. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
With the ups and downs the Seattle Seahawks have faced thus far, it may feel a little odd that a win this weekend would move the team into a share for first place in the NFC West.
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But that’s the case when the 5-5 Seahawks host the first-place Arizona Cardinals (6-4) on Sunday at Lumen Field.
The Cardinals are coming off an abysmal 4-13 season, but have taken advantage of their NFC West peers’ slow starts to be perhaps the most surprising division leader heading into Week 12. The Seahawks, Rams and 49ers each enter the week in a three-way tie for second.
So what exactly is going on with the NFC West? Is it just a matter of teams beating up on one another? Or is it just a down year for the group?
Bump and Stacy on Friday asked FOX football analyst and former NFL player Bucky Brooks for his thoughts on the state of the NFC West.
“I think it’s obviously really competitive, but you have teams in transition,” he said. “You have the Seattle Seahawks in transition with a new head coach (Mike Macdonald). You have the Arizona Cardinals (in their) second year under Jonathan Gannon. (The) Los Angeles Rams are trying to flip their roster with a bunch of young guys playing on defense, while still holding onto kind of like an older offense with (quarterback) Matthew Stafford and (wide receiver) Cooper Kupp and those guys. And then the San Francisco 49ers are fighting off the Super Bowl hangover where they’re greatly disappointed by not being able to get it done against the Chiefs the second time they faced them in the Super Bowl.”
While nobody in the division seems like a true Super Bowl contender record-wise, the four teams do sport a combined winning record at 21-19 and none having a losing record individually.
“It’s not necessarily that there’s not talent,” Brooks said. “I just think you have a division that in a year or two will be one of the best in football, but it takes us time to get there. So if you have an opportunity to win it, you want to win it now while you’re still rebuilding and retooling your roster for things that you hope are greater down the line.”
Schedule watch
With the division looking like it could come down to the final week and potentially even tiebreakers, here’s a look at each team’s remaining strength of schedule, their division record, remaining division games, toughest overall remaining game and easiest overall remaining game. Strength of schedule rankings are via Tankathon.
Arizona Cardinals (6-4)
SOS: 19th (.479 opponents’ winning percentage)
Division record: 2-0
Remaining division games: at Seahawks, vs. Seahawks, at Rams, at 49ers
Toughest overall remaining game: at Vikings
Easiest overall remaining game: vs. Patriots
Seattle Seahawks (5-5)
SOS: 9th (.549)
Division record: 1-2
Remaining division games: vs. Cardinals, at Cardinals, at Rams
Toughest overall remaining game: vs. Vikings
Easiest overall remaining game: at Jets
Los Angeles Rams (5-5)
SOS: 11th (.548)
Division record: 2-1
Remaining division games: at 49ers, vs. Cardinals, vs. Seahawks
Toughest overall remaining game: vs. Bills
Easiest overall remaining game: at Jets
San Francisco 49ers (5-5)
SOS: 3rd (.620)
Division record: 1-3
Remaining division games: vs. Rams, at Cardinals
Toughest overall remaining game: vs. Lions
Easiest overall remaining game: vs. Bears/at Dolphins
Listen to the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
