An Early Look at the NFC West Standings: The Tightest Division in Football

As the NFL season nears its halfway point, we have just enough information to start making early projections on each team’s path to the playoffs. Especially for divisions such as the NFC South, where the Buccaneers have come out to a strong 5-1 start even while battling injuries, it is much easier to project an eventual division winner. However, there are a couple of divisions whose outcome from top to bottom is still incredibly murky. The NFC North has repeated last year’s competitiveness with four teams with winning records six weeks into the season. However, the NFC West easily has just as strong an argument to be the division with the tightest competition.

​The San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, and the Los Angeles Rams are all 4-2, in a three-way tie for the top of the division. The Arizona Cardinals have not looked amazing, but even then, they only sit two games behind at 2-4. More surprisingly, all the teams except the 49ers have a positive net points across their six games, and the 49ers only have negative three net points. This is because all but one of the NFC West’s losses have been in one-score games. The only NFC West loss that wasn’t a one-score game was the 49ers' last game against the Buccaneers, where they only lost by 11. It’s not entirely inaccurate for every single NFC West team to believe that they should be undefeated if they could change a single play from every single game. Between freak plays such as the Rams’ two blocked field goals against the Eagles and the Emari Demarcardo fumble in the end zone for the Cardinals, it is not hard for every single team’s fans to cope with the fact that their team could’ve and maybe should’ve won. For now, every team still has a chance to win the division, even the Cardinals, and their fans should continue to have faith.

​The San Francisco 49ers

For the 49ers, the path has just become a lot murkier. They are quite possibly the most injured team in the league, with major injuries on both sides of the ball. They’ve had Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall, Brandon Aiyuk, and Jauan Jennings all miss time on the offensive side. They also lost both Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, the two most important pieces on their defense, to season-ending injuries. Especially with Warner coming down in Week Six, it’s hard to project the 49ers continuing to be a good defense, but there is still hope for 49er fans.

​First of all, they have been winning thus far in a group effort and Christian McCaffery’s dominance, and that means they just have to keep up the recipe for success. They also may see the return of Brock Purdy and George Kittle in Week Seven, with Ricky Pearsall's return around the corner. Most importantly, the 49ers still have one of the easiest schedules in football with games against the Titans, Browns, and Panthers around the corner. They may still be able to win their way to a strong record against weak competition and sit atop as the NFC West champions. In this regard, starting 4-2 with wins over every other team in the NFC West goes a long way in reaching this goal.

​The Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have come out to a very strong start to the season. Even besides their 4-2 record, they have looked very strong on both sides of the ball. Their defense has continued last season’s second half, looking dominant. Leonard Williams has been the best pass rusher that doesn’t get talked about, and their secondary, led by Devon Witherspoon, has been amazing. More surprisingly, their offense has been amazing. Their offensive line has taken a massive step forward from last year. Sam Darnold has not only continued his strong campaign from last year but also improved upon it, looking more comfortable in the pocket and being efficient from a statistical perspective. He has elevated Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a league-leading 696 yards, and he easily looks like a top-five wide receiver this year.

​The only real gripe against them is that you wish they had a statement win against another top competitor. They lost their only real chance against the Buccaneers in a tight game that they could’ve won without an untimely interception. The recipe for them to make the playoffs and win the division is simple: continue to play this way against future competition. Their upcoming games against teams with winning records outside of their division include the Commanders in Week Nine after the bye and then the Vikings, the Falcons, and the Colts in a row starting in Week 13. They play the Vikings and Colts at home, and if the Seahawks can win two of these games and win a healthy portion of their division games, they should secure themselves a playoff spot atop the division.

​The Los Angeles Rams

Although the Los Angeles Rams have looked strong to start the year, they will have a tough battle moving forward. They have games against the Jaguars, the Buccaneers, the Lions, and the Falcons for out-of-division opponents, with only the Saints and the Panthers having losing records on the Rams' upcoming schedule. The rest of their games are all division games that are always difficult to predict, even with large disparities in team strength. Even though their opponents will be pretty tough to crack, it is encouraging that the Rams have shown strengths on both sides of the ball. The Rams’ offense has been torching defenses through an amazing 2025 campaign for Matthew Stafford and the two top receivers in Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. The defense has been anchored by one of the most effective two-man rushes on the outside from Byron Young and Jared Verse, and it has allowed the back half of the defense to dominate some games. They have all the tools to win games against anyone in the league, and they will simply need to execute and start to cut out some of the mistakes that cost them two games, such as fumbles and kick blocking. If they can do this, they can force their way atop the NFC West despite currently being last in the three-way tie.

​The Arizona Cardinals

Admittedly, the Cardinals’ path to the top of the NFC West is the hardest to see. Even though they have only lost their four games by a combined nine points, they have not all been pretty losses. The loss to the Titans was particularly disappointing. The Demarcardo fumble was already mentioned, but the entire fourth quarter was a masterclass in dysfunction and a failure to execute. That being said, they were still in every single game this year, even against some tough competition in the 49ers, Colts, and Seahawks. If they improve on some fronts, they could win some upsets to get themselves back into the race. Their likelihood to do this likely depends on how you view Kyler Murray. If you believe he can start playing the way he was earlier in his career again, and be able to be a real difference maker towards stacking wins. If you don’t believe in Murray’s future, it is encouraging to see that the Cardinals' offense looked pretty good against the Colts under backup Jacoby Brissett, throwing to Trey McBride and Zay Jones.  Brissett could lead them to a more productive offense if the coaching staff decided to make a change. The defense has been solid, though not incredible, and there’s still potential for the offense to take further steps forward through more consistency from Marvin Harrison Jr. or a run game that could recapture last year’s run blocking strength, and produce even without James Conner or Trey Benson. The Cardinals easily have the most difficult remaining schedule left out of the NFC West teams, with eight games against teams that currently have winning records. They would need to win five of these eight games and win the other three games in order to get to a 10-7 record and potentially the playoffs. It will be an uphill battle, but the Cardinals could force some major upsets if things swing in their favor.