As it stands right now, the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the outside looking in on their division leaders. With the Saints record at 8-3 and the rest of the other three at 7-4, there will be an all out fight for the final two wild card spots for the NFL Playoffs.
Two of these franchises will be sitting at home and watching the post-season with a high probability of finishing with an impressive record.
Too bad they aren’t in the West.
Sadly enough, the St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers or Arizona Cardinals continue through the 2010 season with a division title and playoff berth still in the horizon, despite the two teams tied in first place with a 5-6 record. What is even more depressing is that one of these teams will host a first round playoff game with a possible .500 or losing record.
Imagine one of these four teams (all of whom have given up more points than they have scored) hosting a wild card opener against a team who will probably have more wins than them. How deflating would it be to any of the two other teams that get left behind if the NFC West winner comes out with a 7-9 record?
The only word that could define that feeling is equivalent to Manny Pacquiao’s punches when they crush into his opponent’s jaw …
Devastating…
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell must be at church everyday, praying and hoping that one of the NFC West teams ends up with a winning record or at least an 8-8 record.
According to NFL.Com, only two teams have won their division with a .500 record (the 1985 Cleveland Browns and 2008 San Diego Chargers). Yet, there has never been a team who won a division with a losing record, a possibility that could become a reality at the conclusion of this season.
Any one of the four representatives for the NFC West appears inferior in relation to the other teams with playoff aspirations. Here are some terrifying concerns when evaluating the NFC West:
- In comparing road records of the NFC wild card hopefuls with all four NFC West teams; every NFC West team has a losing record when playing away (all combined for 4-17 with the Seahawks at the best with a 2-4 record), while the other teams have at least a .500 record on the road (14-8 total for all four teams with the Saints the best at 4-2).
- Only the St. Louis Rams has at least a .500 record against teams outside their division (4-4). The rest of the division is a combined 6-16, with only three of those six wins against teams with a winning record currently (only one of the Rams four wins is against a winning team).
- When looking at records within the NFC Conference, all four wild card teams have a winning record (all totaled at 22-9); the Seattle Seahawks are the only team in the NFC West with a winning record within the conference (the division as a whole is 11-24).
- Aside from last place Arizona, all of the other NFC West teams have lost a game against a team who not only have worse record than them, but are also currently in last place. St Louis got stomped on by Detroit (2-9) in Week 5 by a score of 44-6, Seattle was also given a beating by Denver (3-8) in Week 2 (31-14), and the 49ers gave Carolina (1-10) its only win of the season in Week 7 (23-20).
These points represent one big ideology for the 2010 NFL season; the NFC West deserve no representation come playoff time.
Playoff squads don’t have as bad a road record as all of the NFC West franchises currently have. They also can take care of business against other stronger foes outside of their own division when they face off against them, an ability all of the NFC West obviously doesn’t have.
They also prove that they can stand on their own when they face the best in the conference, but the NFC West can’t do that either. Most importantly, playoff teams take care of business when the weakest teams in the league play them. They can’t even accomplish that feat.
Despite that, a winner must emerge from what possibly could be the worst division in NFL history.
Currently, St. Louis and Seattle are tied for first at 5-6, with San Francisco one game behind at 4-7 and Arizona still in the hunt, even with a 3-8 record. Looking ahead at the schedule, it’ll be an interesting to see how the division finishes out.
With five games left, St. Louis, Seattle and San Francisco all have two teams with winning records left on their schedule. St. Louis and San Francisco will also face off against each team in the NFC West once more. Seattle will play San Francisco and St. Louis again, and have one game against Carolina. Arizona has the easiest schedule at the moment (St. Louis, Denver, Carolina, Dallas, San Francisco), but will have the biggest hill to climb to overtake the division.
Aside from the schedule and current standings, the most deserving team of all four is the St. Louis Rams.
Sam Bradford’s rookie season has been nearly as perfect and as great as any rookie quarterback in history (2,466 passing yards, 17 TDs, 9 INTs, 82.0 QB Rating). With an unknown receiving core and a great running back in Steven Jackson, the Rams are the biggest surprise and most improved team in the NFC West.
The rest of the division has been atrocious and under-performing.
Seattle is still in transition, despite appearing improved since last season, but have no stand out players at any position (except rookie safety Earl Thomas, who is having a great year). San Francisco was picked to be division leader at the start of the season, but a five game losing streak in the first five games of the season erased those hopes. Arizona started 3-2 before their bye week, then got burnt for six straight losses.
The thought that there is an outside shot for one of these teams to make it into the playoffs with a losing record is laughable. It isn’t very funny for any one of the two Wild Card teams that will probably finish with double-digit wins, but become a non-participant in the 2010 playoffs.
It’ll be a sad day if the NFC West is actually won…by a loser.
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