Nothing is easy for 49ers in NFL’s toughest division
After another week, you can toss away many of your initial assumptions about the NFL from Week 1. But not this one:
The NFC West is the toughest division in the league.
Not only will the NFC West host Super Bowl LVI, at SoFi Stadium in February, the road to that championship game likely will go through the division.
The division is 7-1 through two weeks and was about 28 seconds and one Seattle stop away from being 8-0. There are seven undefeated teams in the league, and three of them — including the 49ers — are in the NFC West.
That means a three-way tie for first place. The Seahawks
are in last place. And, no, it’s not too early to be examining the standings.
Because every week, these four teams — all with playoff aspirations and even Super Bowl dreams — will be looking over their shoulders, measuring their division rivals, calculating how to stay ahead in the race.
Kyle Shanahan isn’t ready to anoint the division supreme.
“I know the players we have in our division. I know the coaches in our division, so I always felt it’s been right there,” the 49ers’ head coach hedged. “But that would be a big statement for me without doing it the right way and studying all 32 teams.”
OK, then I’ll do it. You might be hearing a lot about Tom Brady’s Buccaneers and the Patriots and the Cowboys, for all the obvious reasons. But the force to be reckoned with is the NFC West.
The division is involved in a figurative arms race, with premier quarterbacks leading the way. The Rams traded for Matt Stafford, who clearly has improved the passing game. The 49ers countered by trading three first-round picks and then drafting quarterback Trey Lance. The division’s reigning quarterback king whom everyone is trying to catch is Russell Wilson.
Arizona’s Kyler Murray, the fifth-rated QB, is perhaps the most dynamic player in the game, and he’s making the most noise in the early season.
Murray has passed for 689 yards through two games, with seven touchdowns and three interceptions. He also has been sacked five times, and rushed for 51 yards.
Stafford? He’s rated third and has passed for 599 yards and five touchdowns. Been picked once and sacked twice. He won a game on Sunday against the Colts that felt like one of those games the Rams would have lost last year.
Wilson, the league’s toprated QB, has passed for 597 yards and six touchdowns. He hasn’t thrown an interception, but he has been sacked six times. His offensive line is going to have to give him help; Wilson can’t do everything.
Then there’s Jimmy Garoppolo. He has passed for 503 yards and two touchdowns. He hasn’t thrown an interception and has been sacked only once. He is playing mostly mistake-free football through two games. Which is good for him, because one false move and the fans will be demanding he be benched in favor of Lance. Heck, many of them already are demanding the 49ers bench their 2-0 quarterback.
“We’re an NFL team and we’re trying to win each game,” Shanahan said, uttering a sentence that shouldn’t be necessary.
The top three receivers in terms of yardage are all in the NFC West, led by the the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel with 282. Right behind him is Seattle’s Tyler Lockett with 278 and the Rams’ Cooper Kupp with 271. Arizona rookie Rondale Moore is tied for 10th with 182.
And the defenses are stout. A week after witnessing a second-half collapse in Detroit, the 49ers won a game in Philadelphia thanks to their defensive effort. Afterward, spoke a lot of “complementary football.” Though the Rams had their own second-half collapse Sunday in Indianapolis, they still have Aaron Donald leading their defense. Arizona’s defense was vastly improved last year and has beefed up more, notably with the addition of J.J. Watt. If Seattle lags in the division, it might be based on its defense — the Seahawks, who squandered a 14-point fourth quarter lead Sunday, have had trouble stopping both the run and the pass.
The 49ers are 2-0 and have Green Bay on Sunday night. One would never take the Packers lightly, but the real test begins the week after, with their first division matchup against Seattle.
There are no gimmes or soft games in the NFC West. It’s going to be fun.