NFC West Standings: 49ers-Seahawks will decide who wins the West

And so it’s come to this. The final week of the NFL regular season will decide who wins the NFC West. It was a wild ride, but the San Francisco 49ers have a chance to take that crown back and not go on any more road games in 2025.

The 49ers have issues—or an issue: their defense. It’s not like it was in prior years. They do have one Brock Purdy, and if he can play like he has the last two weeks, they won’t need the elite defenses they’ve had. They still need the defense to step up in the playoffs, but that offense has been clicking enough that they might be able to get by with what they have.

The Seahawks are a great team to gauge how good the 49ers offense is in 2025. If the offensive production can continue in this game against one of the league’s better defenses, we can begin to feel better about the playoffs.

Regardless of what happens, the 49ers have been quietly rebuilding their roster this year. Rebuilding, and they might get the No. 1 seed? They have a more manageable schedule, but they don’t have an easier division since three of the four NFC West teams are going to the postseason.

My point is, the 49ers are playing on house money. They have the pieces on offense and soon the cap space to fill the holes on defense. We don’t have to wait until Sunday either. The NFL doesn’t want a game where the No. 1 seed in the NFC and the NFC West are decided, and wants… well, whatever they want to be the Sunday night game. So Saturday night it is.

Seattle Seahawks (13-3)

Not like it would have changed what the 49ers have to do in Week 18, but it certainly would have been nice to see the Seahawks lose to the Panthers because that’s always fun. For a hot minute, the Panthers looked like pulling such a victory off was a possibility. The first half ended in a tie at 3-3. Those three points on the Panthers’ end were courtesy of a car crash of a fumble, where Darnold managed to drop the ball twice:

The Panthers got their turnover, and it wouldn’t be the last. In the third quarter, Sam Darnold threw a floater into the Panthers’ end zone that got intercepted. Great, right? Second turnover so that the Panthers can kick another field goal at least?

Nah. The Seahawks had enough of this turnover thing and got one of their own on the very next play, thanks to Chuba Hubbard doing this:

And then Seattle went to the run game to make it 10-3. Not to be outdone, the Seahawks decided another turnover was adequate and picked off Bryce Young the very next series. A few plays later, another touchdown, and it’s 17-3.

You can kinda figure out where this goes from there. The Panthers had their chances, and they squandered them away. The game that was 3-3 at halftime turned into a 27-10 Seahawks’ win.

The Seahawks are vulnerable offensively, but their defense is no joke. We’ve had Purdy be Joe Montana against the ho-hum defenses of the league, but the Seahawks are a good litmus test for this 49ers offense. The Seahawks can also offer up some turnovers on offense, so it’s a matter of the 49ers capitalizing on those as well.

Los Angeles Rams (11-5)

It was just a few weeks ago that the Rams were on track for the NFC No. 1 seed, first in the NFC West, and quarterback Matthew Stafford was an MVP candidate.

And after the Falcons game, all of that has evaporated. Stafford threw three interceptions in the 27-24 loss. Including this gem that gets him into the record books:

What does that do? Well, it ties Matthew Stafford with Brett Favre for most pick-sixes in NFL history. Just one more pick-six to make him own the title all to himself.

Of course, this is the Falcons, and while they had the game 21-0 at halftime, they somehow let the Rams back into it, making it 24-24 with under a minute to go. Oddly, one of those touchdowns came on special teams. Odd because the Rams fired their special teams coordinator a week ago, and now these are the results:

Now those are some quick results on that particular coaching change. It took the 49ers half a season to turn their special teams issues around. And I have to admit that the blocked field goal is pretty awesome.

But don’t fret, the Falcons took care of business thanks to Zane Gonzalez hitting a field goal in under a minute followed by the refs not throwing a flag on this possible pass interference:

Say it with me, 49ers fans: “awwwwwww.”

The Falcons loss caps off a Rams decline over the last few weeks—one from the No. 1 seed to a possible No. 6 seed and first place in the division to third. A lot depends on how the 49ers do against the Seahawks. Of course, Arizona could always do everyone a favor and beat the Rams this week, but I wouldn’t count on it, even if the Rams rested their starters (which Sean McVay says they won’t next week).

On a minor, humorous note: the Rams have the Falcons’ 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft, so the loss to Atlanta pushes that pick back.

Arizona Cardinals (3-13)

The Bengals don’t have a great defense, and the Cardinals have a worse defense. The Bengals have a quarterback; the Cardinals have a quarterback, kind of. This alone should explain how the game went. When halftime arrived, the Bengals had a 23-7 lead, and the Cardinals looked like the Keystone Cops. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow went 24-31 for 305 yards passing, two touchdowns, and a rating of 129.1. The Bengals even let Joe Flacco into the mix at the end of the game since it was out of reach at 37-7.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, got 37 points run up on them. This is without Cincinnati benefitting from turnovers or anything crazy. The Bengals just carved the Cardinals all day, and the Cardinals had little answer for it.

For a team like Arizona with a defensive-minded head coach, said team’s defense isn’t very good. It will be interesting to hear what happens to head coach Jonathan Gannon at the end of the season. He claims he “feels good”, but after you’ve seen the crazy losses the Cardinals suffered this year, along with that defense, I don’t know how you retain him. If you check Cardinals social media, you’d see the fans are done with him at the very least, with posts calling for his job. Black Monday will be interesting indeed.

Onto Week 18

The NFC West is going to be battling itself this week. The Rams will travel to face the Cardinals. After that loss to the Falcons, a Cardinals win would be fitting. It’d hurt the Cardinals’ draft positioning for next year, and it also would wreck the Rams’ seeding.

But the game everyone cares about will be the 49ers hosting the Seattle Seahawks. The winner gets the NFC No. 1 seed and the NFC West crown…and it’s Saturday, not Sunday night. Why the NFL wants to put a game with so much on the line on a shorter week is beyond me. Instead, for Sunday Night, we get the Baltimore Ravens vs the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC North title and the No. 4 seed.

Because that game has so much more at stake, I suppose. Or it’s further east. Whatever.

If the 49ers can beat the Seahawks, they will get a much-needed bye week and home-field advantage for the rest of the season. If the 49ers hate traveling, maybe that will be the deciding factor.

It all comes down to this. Week 18. I only hope it’s the 2019 season with the 49ers walking away the victors.

1st:  Seattle Seahawks; Next: at San Francisco 49ers (Saturday Night)

2nd: San Francisco 49ers; Next: vs Seattle Seahawks (Saturday Night)

3rd: Los Angeles Rams; Next:vs Arizona Cardinals

4th: Arizona Cardinals ELIMINATED:  Next: at Los Angeles Rams