And that’s a wrap for the NFC West. The final games are over, the standings are solidified, and three teams are going to the postseason. Given that there are more playoff teams nowadays in everybody-gets-a-trophy
NFL playoff brackets, it’s not as huge as it was a decade ago when three teams from the same division locked up all the wild card spots. That said, it’s still impressive and should show you just how rugged the NFC West is.
The good news with the 49ers’ loss on Saturday is that they notch the third-place schedule. Again, this is on paper, but maybe that will quiet everyone who complained that their 2025 schedule was too easy, since it’s moderately harder. On paper, anyway.
So the Super Bowl will run through Seattle (goody), the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams are here for the fun, and the postseason begins this week. Here’s your final recap:
San Francisco 49ers (12-5)/Seattle Seahawks (14-3)
I’m not going to rehash this game because I’m still frustrated about The Great Disappointment decidign to rear its ugly head now rather than later.
In case you didn’t know, the San Francisco 49ers are not going to be the No. 1 Seed and have the NFC West crown. That was decided on Saturday night when the Seattle Seahawks dominated the 49ers 13-3. There are a lot of bad plays we can point fingers at on the 49ers. The Christian McCaffrey interception is one of the more notable ones. The 49ers are just not as good as the Seahawks right now. That’s all there is to it.
If we’re really being fair, with all the injuries, the 49ers might be playing on house money. After Fred Warner went down, it was hard to see how the 49ers could win it all with their defense decaying to the injury bug. Yet, they kept at it. What resulted was a good example set for the rookies and second years: don’t quit. They didn’t.
Yes, three road games to get to the Super Bowl is a tough, tough task for the 49ers this year, but given the adversity this team has fought through, there are a lot of things to be positive about for the future. This was supposed to be the year they unloaded a lot of salary cap and went younger. Yet they still win 12 games? I’ll take that. I’ll also defend the decision not to get aggressive at the trade deadline. The 49ers team you saw last night had way, way too many holes that a one-year rental was going to fix. Best to take those draft picks into 2026 and fill out the defense.
And the funny thing about all of this? It’s not over yet. Maybe the 49ers are like the 2010 Packers, where they go on the road in the NFC and tear things up to win it all. There are plenty of things to work on, but there’s only so much a team that has suffered as much as this one has can do.
And give the Seahawks their flowers. They suffocated the 49ers in their own stadium. Granted, I will also say that not having Trent Williams or Ricky Pearsall is Seattle’s luck that we have come accustomed to, but that defense still held a 49ers team that was high-scoring until Saturday to just three points.
The road to the Super Bowl goes through Seattle. They have the best odds to represent the NFC. They, or the Rams, very well could hoist a Lombardi Trophy in the 49ers’ stadium.
Los Angeles Rams (12-5) / Arizona Cardinals (3-14)
Well, the Cardinals kept it interesting until the fourth quarter. This is after fumbles and other Cardinals nonsense. The Rams weren’t planning on benching the starters either. At the end of the day, one team clearly belonged in the playoffs, and one did not.
Things were stalemated for much of the first half, with each team giving up a pair of field goals to the other. Los Angeles got their first touchdown. Ahem, a one-handed touchdown to Puka Nacua inside of two minutes to go in the half:
You can hate the Rams all you want, but that catch is awesome. So now it’s 13-6 with under a minute. The Rams are still not done. In the next series, Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw an interception that the Rams managed to get a field goal off of before time expired in the half.
Typically, you know where this is going. Not so fast.
The Cardinals were looking to go three and out to open the second half. They brought the punt team in, and then this sequence of events happened:
13-16? Lucky break, right? Nope. The Rams failed to answer, and the Cardinals again moved down the field for another touchdown. So now it’s 20-16…Cardinals? With three minutes to go in the third quarter, the Cardinals had over 150 yards of offense while the Rams had only 16.
But that’s where everything changed. The Rams more than doubled that yardage total on their next possession, Matthew Stafford hit Colby Parkinson for the lead, and then that brief moment in bizarro world was left behind. The Rams proceeded to…uh…“ram” the ball down the Cardinals’ throats and score a few more touchdowns. Final score 37-20, Rams.
As of this writing, we do not know the job status of Jonathan Gannon
Onto the Postseason
We end the recaps here, since the NFC West’s time in the season has concluded. The Cardinals will be heading home to watch the playoffs.
The 49ers will be traveling to face the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. A 49ers win here would be rather poetic in a sense, but they have a long road if they want to sniff a Lombardi.
The Rams will be facing the Carolina Panthers on Saturday. As we don’t want an NFC West rival to win a Super Bowl in the 49ers’ home stadium, you know who to root for here.
The Seahawks will get to put their feet up and watch the chaos of Wild Card Weekend unfold. They earned it.
