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The NFC West produced the three teams with the best records in the conference during the 2025 NFL regular season. The Seattle Seahawks (14-3) won the division, edging the Los Angeles Rams (12-5) and San Francisco 49ers (12-5).
All three teams are still alive in the 2026 divisional playoffs with a good chance that one will represent the NFC in Super Bowl 60, set to be played in the 49ers' home of Levi's Stadium. While the Seahawks host the 49ers in a rubber match after splitting the season series on Saturday, the Rams will try to turn back the upstart Bears on Sunday.
Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams and incorporated eight four-team divisions in 2002, a division has had three playoff teams 14 times in 24 seasons, including 5 times in the past four seasons.
What the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers accomplished as a postseason-bound trio, however, stood out to make the 2025 NFC West better than the rest:
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Seahawks, Rams and 49ers each won 12 or more games
In the 2024 season, the Lions (15), Vikings (14) and Packers (11) all made the playoffs from the NFC North with a record combined 40 wins. Although the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers fell short of that mark in '25 with 38 combined wins, they did become the first division playoff trio to each have at least 12 victories each.
The Lions and Vikings did separate from the Packers to make it a two-time North race in the previous season, but going into Week 16 of '25, the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers all had a shot of winning the division. Seattle got it done by beating Los Angeles and San Francisco in the final three weeks to avenge earlier losses.
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Seahawks, Rams and 49ers are in a playoff class by themselves
In 2022, the NFC East also had three teams in the divisional playoffs — the Eagles, Cowboys and Giants. But they combined for only 35 wins. Before then, 1997 was the last time three teams from the same division advanced past the wild-card round. But that was when the Packers, Buccaneers and Vikings all were in the five-team NFC Central, one of only three divisions with three wild-card teams still making the playoffs.
With Seattle playing San Francisco, it is guaranteed that one NFC West team will make the conference championship game and there's a good chance for two, with Los Angeles favored over Chicago.
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NFC West has had consistent representation in the NFC championship game
Since 2008, or the previous 17 seasons, 13 times has a NFC West team has played for the conference title. That includes the Seahawks beating the 49ers to get to Super Bowl 48 and the Rams beating the 49ers to get to Super Bowl 56. The NFC West, including the Cardinals, has also won 8 of the past 17 NFC titles, most of any division. With only two rings in those.8 combined Super Bowl trips, they still have plenty to prove
NFC West has become the coaching and GM hotbed of the NFL
The Rams' Sean McVay and the 49ers' Kyle Shanahan are among the league's elite and now longest-tenured coaches. Before, when the 49ers and Seahawks battled for conference domination, it was Jim Harbaugh vs. Pete Carroll. Now Carroll's successor, Mike Macdonald, has brought back a third strong sideline adversary.
McVay, Shanahan and Macdonald, along with their coaching staffs, were outstanding in getting the most out of their offensive and defensive schemes. Their teams went a combined 6-0 against the Cardinals, which spelled doom for Jonathan Gannon in Arizona.
The Cardinals are in the unenviable position of finding a new leader who can turn things around in a hurry, despite the major questions about their own team in relation to the expected continued conference contention of the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers.
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The McVay and Shanahan coaching trees have been plucked often by other teams. Macdonald worked under both Harbaughs to build his strong defensive-minded pedigree. The teams are also very successful for having ace general managers: Les Snead in Los Angeles, John Lynch in San Francisco and John Schneider in Seattle.
The Seahawks, 49ers and Rams have become model winning franchises. Forget just the Cardinals: That makes it difficult for any other team outside of the division to compete on such a consistent high level in the modern game.
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