NFC WEST 2020 PREVIEW

BY ADAM GREENE

Over the last five seasons, every team in the NFC West has hoisted the division trophy at least once. The longest drought belongs to the Arizona Cardinals, who last won it in 2015. The Los Angeles Rams took it twice in Sean McVay’s first two seasons as head coach, but were usurped by the San Francisco 49ers last season.

It was the first division title for the Niners since 2012 and with a division that changes hands that much, the odds are stacked against them repeating. In fact, since the Matt Hasellbeck and Mike Holmgren era in Seattle, no team has won more than two in a row since 2008.

How’s it going to play out this year? I have some thoughts.

LOS ANGELES RAMS (12-4, Division Champion)

People are down on the Rams for reasons that mystify me. They had three huge problems on offense last year, the health of Todd Gurley, the health of their offensive line and the regression of Jared Goff at quarterback. The first two issues, I think, were a big contributor in the third.

By the end of the 2019 season, the Rams had solved their offensive line issue and Goff was playing some of his best ball. Along the way Tyler Higbee emerged as one of the most prolific tight ends in the league. As for losing Gurley, plenty of people are pointing at rookie Cam Akers possibly sliding into that spot, but don’t sleep on Malcolm Brown. The team never lost much with him on the field instead of Gurley and he’s going to be hard to send to the bench.

The biggest reason the Rams will rebound is the addition of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Wade Phillips’ defensive scheme became a liability in 2019, giving up monster big plays that cost the team games all throughout the season. Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey remain two of the best players in the league and in spite of all the issues that dogged Los Angeles last season, they still finished with a winning record and would have made the playoffs under the new system.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (11-5, Wild Card)

As long as Russell Wilson is healthy, the Seahawks are a danger to win every game on their schedule. What’s holding him back? The ineptitude of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

Wilson is, at worst, the second best QB in the league and the fact that Pete Carroll, in spite of his many talents as a head coach, has seen fit to pair him with an OC that has no clue how to call plays to best benefit Wilson and the team, is mind boggling. Hopefully, for Wilson’s sake, that’ll change after this year.

Outside of Wilson is your problem. The skill players are middle rung guys. This is probably the best offensive line RW has played with in years, but that’s not saying a lot. Defensively, they’re OK, but the team can’t hang its hat on that side of the ball anymore.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (9-7)

All the recipes are there for a Super Bowl hangover. An improved division (that was already the best in the NFL), a quarterback (Jimmy Garoppolo) that the head coach (Kyle Shanahan) doesn’t trust to make the key plays when the game is on the line, locker room problems with a running back (Raheem Mostert) demanding a trade and the loss of their best offensive weapon, (Deebo Samuel) for the year with an injury suffered before the preseason even began.

This is still an elite defense and Shanahan will keep the team in games just with his playcalling, but the down year is here and history is not on their side.

ARIZONA CARDIANS (9-7)

You could argue that by the end of the 2019 season the Cardinals were the best sub .500 team in football. Like the Rams and 49ers, they brought in an elite offensive mind in Kliff Kingsbury and let him pick his own QB, in this case Kyler Murray.

Murray took home the offensive rookie of the year nod in 2019, completing 64.4 percent of his passes for 3,722 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions to go with four rushing touchdowns. To help him improve on that, the Cards brought in arguably the best wide receiver in football, DeAndre Hopkins, in a trade with the Houston Texans and continued to build their defense. They’re sitting on a fourth-place schedule and after hosting the 49ers in Week 1, a team they played toe-to-toe with twice last year, they don’t see another team that posted a winning record in 2019 until Oct. 25 when they host the Seahawks.

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