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How The West Was Won
On January 1, 2011, the NFC West was the laughingstock of the NFL. The 6-9 Seahawks and the 7-8 Rams were one day away from playing a would-be playoff tilt on Sunday Night Football that would determine whether the NFC West would become the first division in league history to send a team with a losing record to the NFL playoffs as its champion, inspiring national discussion as to whether the division was the worst in league history. The Cardinals, two years removed from a shocking trip to the Super Bowl, had failed to recover from the retirement of Kurt Warner and collapsed into one of the league’s worst teams. They were 5-10 heading into the final week of the season, as were their opponents, who might have been the biggest disappointments of all. The 49ers, expected to regress toward the mean after a promising 8-8 season with a 9.5-win point differential the previous year, had fallen off to an embarrassing 5-10 record. A fan base with high hopes had resorted to chanting “WE WANT CARR” at embattled head coach Mike Singletary amid an 0-5 start, but the 49ers instead stumbled through a stretch with Alex and Troy Smith before eventually firing Singletary on December 27, one day after a loss to the Rams.
On December 23, 2012, the NFC West was the toast of the league. TheSunday Night Football contest that night was between the 10-3-1 49ers and 9-5 Seahawks, two of the best teams in football. They would each make deep playoff runs; the Seahawks would come within one play of a rubber match with the Niners in the NFC Championship Game, and the Niners would finish one play short of the Lombardi Trophy. The Rams, one of the league’s youngest teams, improved by nearly six full wins to finish 7-8-1; the Cardinals still hadn’t found a replacement for Warner, but they had managed to scrape together one of the league’s best defenses. The division that had been a case for playoff rule changes just 24 months prior was now, quite possibly, the best division in football. This Sunday, they’ll renew acquaintances in Seattle in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of 2013.
How on earth did that happen to the NFC West?
On January 1, 2011, the NFC West was the laughingstock of the NFL. The 6-9 Seahawks and the 7-8 Rams were one day away from playing a would-be playoff tilt on Sunday Night Football that would determine whether the NFC West would become the first division in league history to send a team with a losing record to the NFL playoffs as its champion, inspiring national discussion as to whether the division was the worst in league history. The Cardinals, two years removed from a shocking trip to the Super Bowl, had failed to recover from the retirement of Kurt Warner and collapsed into one of the league’s worst teams. They were 5-10 heading into the final week of the season, as were their opponents, who might have been the biggest disappointments of all. The 49ers, expected to regress toward the mean after a promising 8-8 season with a 9.5-win point differential the previous year, had fallen off to an embarrassing 5-10 record. A fan base with high hopes had resorted to chanting “WE WANT CARR” at embattled head coach Mike Singletary amid an 0-5 start, but the 49ers instead stumbled through a stretch with Alex and Troy Smith before eventually firing Singletary on December 27, one day after a loss to the Rams.
On December 23, 2012, the NFC West was the toast of the league. TheSunday Night Football contest that night was between the 10-3-1 49ers and 9-5 Seahawks, two of the best teams in football. They would each make deep playoff runs; the Seahawks would come within one play of a rubber match with the Niners in the NFC Championship Game, and the Niners would finish one play short of the Lombardi Trophy. The Rams, one of the league’s youngest teams, improved by nearly six full wins to finish 7-8-1; the Cardinals still hadn’t found a replacement for Warner, but they had managed to scrape together one of the league’s best defenses. The division that had been a case for playoff rule changes just 24 months prior was now, quite possibly, the best division in football. This Sunday, they’ll renew acquaintances in Seattle in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of 2013.
How on earth did that happen to the NFC West?
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