NFC West: Best Division Ever? (Multi-Year Projection)

[Cheesehawk]

22 minutes ago, BayRaider said:

Yes I’m talking multi-seasons but even right now NFCW is even much better than those teams right now. I’d take Seatte/SF over Green Bay/Minnesota. Rams over Bears easily. And Cards over Lions easily. 

I wouldn’t say they are much better right now. The Seahawks and Packers seem to both be really similar in that they both appear to be outperforming expectations. I think they are pretty even. Vikings are probably the #1 team in the NFCN right now and I would give 49ers a slight edge there. Rams > Bears, but not by much. The Rams have had similar games to the Bears where they look to finally be putting it all together, but the majority of both of their games have been trash. Lions we’re definitely a better team going into this season. Injuries killed a very underrated roster early in the season. 

[BayRaider]

1 minute ago, Cheesehawk said:

I wouldn’t say they are much better right now. The Seahawks and Packers seem to both be really similar in that they both appear to be outperforming expectations. I think they are pretty even. Vikings are probably the #1 team in the NFCN right now and I would give 49ers a slight edge there. Rams > Bears, but not by much. The Rams have had similar games to the Bears where they look to finally be putting it all together, but the majority of both of their games have been trash. Lions we’re definitely a better team going into this season. Injuries killed a very underrated roster early in the season. 

I agree with most of this actually. 49ers/Seahawks are definitely not “a lot better” than the Packers/Vikings. All four are extremely close and can beat anyone. But I do think the 49ers/Seahawks are a bit better than both the Vikings/Packers. And big gap between Rams/Bears. And Cardinals/Lions gap next year will be pretty big. 

[showtime]

I'm not sure.  Seattle has won so many close games this season - games they lost two seasons ago.  They could be 13-3, but they're a few bad breaks away from being 10-6.  The Niners look like a complete team, but still not sold on Garoppolo being a franchise QB.  The Rams look good sometimes, and then other times look horrid. 

Next year this division could only have one playoff team (the division winner).  Or it could have three playoff teams.  Too many questions.

[pacman5252]

The nfcw is definitely good this year. Things can change quick though.

-The Rams have no picks, are capped out, and have mediocre qb. They maxed out last year.

-Az- I like Murray. The roster is 2 years of good decisions from competing

-Seattle- has Wilson and an average defense. They, kind of like gb are a 10 win team that is going to win 12-14

-SF- really is the only team that has an elite unit (their defense). Still question their qb play

[pacman5252]

1 hour ago, Fresh Prince said:

Remember when everyone thought 49ers/Seahawks would be the rivalry of the decade?

Yeah, teams have 3 year windows. Decade rivalries don’t exist unless you have a legit top 3 qb on both sides

[RandyMossIsBoss]

I'm sure the 49ers will be an unstoppable juggernaut for years to come, just like the McVay Rams were.

[Forge]

2 hours ago, pacman5252 said:

SF- really is the only team that has an elite unit (their defense). Still question their qb play

Problem is, it's really really hard to maintain an elite defense. So I wouldn't count on that moving forward.

[BayRaider]

3 hours ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

I'm sure the 49ers will be an unstoppable juggernaut for years to come, just like the McVay Rams were.

McVay was never on the level as Kyle. Kyles concepts are genius. Rams have been bootstrapped draft picks for years while the Niners always stock pile. 

[pacman5252]

7 hours ago, Forge said:

Problem is, it's really really hard to maintain an elite defense. So I wouldn't count on that moving forward.

Agreed, it’s has a three year window. People get paid, injuried, old. We’ve seen this with every top unit.

[Ryan_W]

think I'd take South; 2 years divorced from sending 3 teams to the playoffs

Rams fell short and are declining

Bucs & Falcons are really hit & miss but they can hit hard

ask again after the playoffs

[FrantikRam]

The Rams should be a cautionary tale to the Niners. No reason for us to be this mediocre right now. Reminds of the Vikings last year.

Nothing is guaranteed and if the Niners missed the playoffs next year, it wouldn't be a surprise. Only guarantee in the NFC West is that Russell Wilson will be good and the Seahawks will continue to be lucky somehow.

[Soko]

16 hours ago, pacman5252 said:

The Rams have no picks, are capped out, and have mediocre qb. They maxed out last year.

Eh, I wouldn’t call the Rams capped out. They’re sitting at around $25M with room to create $15M more or so, maybe more depending on how they structure Ramsey. They won’t have a ton of room but they aren’t capped out like Atlanta/Minnesota (both projected to be over the cap) or Pittsburgh/Jacksonville ($1.5M and $600k in projected space). And they still have 7 picks, including a 2nd/3rd. Just missing that first, which hurts, but doesn’t constitute “no picks” IMO.

Edited December 16, 2019 by Yin-Yang

[stl4life07]

Oh I think the NFC West is the best division and will be for awhile.

Niners arent going anywhere as long as Jimmy G can stay healthy which this season he has but prior to this season he hasnt. Hopefully this season isnt just luck that he has stayed healthy but more of he is going to be continuously healthy moving forward. Plus the Niners will only get better as they continue to add weapons for Jimmy G in the passing game.

Seahawks I will never count them out as long as they have Wilson at QB. Their demise entering last season was over exaggerated because they were starting to lose alot of big names but just like the Niners, the Seahawks organization is well ran from front office to head coach. They will always be a contender whether it be Superbowl or playoffs.

Rams I think people are jumping off the ship quickly. Many people have so many narratives. As bad as this season has been the Rams could finish (9-7) or (10-6) and years from now we are going to look back and say in a terrible season the Rams still manage to barely miss the playoffs in a tough conference and tough division. That says alot because the great teams terrible seasons are about the same. The bad teams terrible seasons are like (6-10) or (5-11) or worst because things just fall apart quickly. Again just like the Seahawks and Niners, the Rams have talent and is well ran from the front office to head coach. The Niners, Seahawks, and Rams all have what I like to call "rich people" problems. The Rams will be fine and still be contenders whether it be Superbowl or playoff contenders pretty much year round.

Cards I think put themselves in position to be successful moving forward. I dont know how Kingsbury will work long term but Murray looks like a gamer who can eventually be in the mold of a Wilson where the team is rarely out of games so he gives his team chances pretty much every week to win. The team still needs to fix the oline, get more talent on defense, and give him more weapons to work with but I think the Cards can turn into a team that just battles and wins because of Murray in the same way the Seahawks just battles and wins because of Wilson. Might not look pretty and you might come away saying the Cards are winning alot of close games against teams they suppose to blow out but at the end of the day its about wins and losses and not about style points in the NFL. 

[Bolts223]

I don't even think it's better than the 2013 NFC West.

 

[stl4life07]

2 hours ago, Yin-Yang said:

Eh, I wouldn’t call the Rams capped out. They’re sitting at around $25M with room to create $15M more or so, maybe more depending on how they structure Ramsey. They won’t have a ton of room but they aren’t capped out like Atlanta/Minnesota (both projected to be over the cap) or Pittsburgh/Jacksonville ($1.5M and $600k in projected space). And they still have 7 picks, including a 2nd/3rd. Just missing that first, which hurts, but doesn’t constitute “no picks” IMO.

Its just people being over dramatic. I doubt he knows how the Rams cap really look like. Its like when my friend used to tell me how bad the Saints cap was after giving Brees a big contract and I told him the Saints will be fine. He didnt believe me until he saw the Saints start to still go after big name FA's before he said the Saints must not be in cap hell after all. I told him teams can create money if they wanted to go after someone. Plus teams who go down are teams that dont draft well. Its not even about having high draft picks either but its about drafting well. Ive seen the Rams have 3 1st round picks in one draft and miss on all three. Then I saw the Rams have 2 3rd round picks in one draft and hit on both. But the Rams will be fine its just some people are so caught up in right now that they just say the Rams are done without taking a step back and think the Rams organization actually know what they are doing. When McVay was hired in 2017 most people thought it would take 3 years for the Rams to be a playoff team. So according to that logic the Rams shouldve done little until this season. The Rams organization know what they are doing to put the team in great situations. It doesnt mean they are going to go to the Superbowl or playoffs every season because we know things happen but if the organization is well ran you trust they will continue to be successful even if it means bouncing back from a down season and jumping over some hurdles.