NFC West: 49ers extending lead, Arizona loses fourth straight
The NFC West is starting to settle back to where most observers thought it would be at the beginning of the season: San Francisco dominating and the rest falling by the wayside.
The 49ers are 6-2 on the season and have opened a two game lead over both the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks, which are both 4-4. St. Louis brings up the rear with a record of 3-5.
The 49ers have won two straight while the other three teams are on losing streaks. Arizona started 4-0 but has lost 4 consecutive games, Seattle has lost 2 straight after raising their record to 4-2 and St. Louis has lost 3 consecutive games.
Statistically the 49ers are dominating the rest of their division rivals. The 49ers are 2-0 in division play, where as Arizona is 1-2, Seattle 0-3 and the Rams 2-0; taking advantage of both the Seahawks and Cardinals.
The 49ers have outscored their opponents overall by 86 points, while Seattle holds a 6 point overall edge over its opponents. However, Arizona has been outscored overall by its opponents by 15 points and the Rams have been outscored by 49 points.
The midpoint of the NFL season has been reached. The NFC West has two teams playing this week. The Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals have games and the two teams on bye are the San Francisco 49ers and the St. Louis Rams.
Arizona will be in jeopardy of losing their fifth straight game when they visit the Green Bay Packers who have turned their season around and are at 5-3. The Packers have won three straight coming into the game. Aaron Rogers the GB quarterback, will look to tear apart the Cardinals secondary just like the 49ers offense did last week.
The Packers will win this matchup easily and move the Cardinals one more notch lower in the NFC West. Arizona after this week might be lucky to win three more games the entire year.
The Seattle Seahawks host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Minnesota comes in with a strong 5-3 record and is tied for second place in the NFC North with Green Bay. Both teams have a load of talent at running back and both lost last week, making a win this week all the more important and desirable.
Seattle cannot afford to lose any more games or they will lose touch with San Francisco, as they are already two games back. Seattle plays tough on their home field, but Minnesota has had extra time to practice after being throttled by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.
The Rams are thankful for their bye week as they are 3-5 and losers of three straight. However, with the 3 wins, they have passed their wins of last year and the presence of Jeff Fisher on the sideline has helped.
San Francisco should be sending a thank you card to the NFL. The 49ers bye week has come at a great time. After six weeks of regular Sunday or Monday games, they played Seattle on a Thursday, then the next week did not play again until a Monday night game and now they have a bye week. If you add up all that, the 49ers will have played only one NFL game in a 22-day period from October 18 to November 9.
What more could a team ask for but rest for their tired and injured players in the difficult NFL.
