NFC West standings: Seahawks in position to take division lead heading into bye week

With the Arizona Cardinals losing 28-17 to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, the Los Angeles Rams are the only team in the NFC West with a winning record after three games. Remember back in 2013 when three teams had 10+ wins and the Rams were last in the division, with a respectable but Fisherian record of 7-9? Yeah, those days are gone.

On the plus side, Arizona’s defeat provides the Seattle Seahawks an opportunity to take control of first place heading into their week six bye. All that’s required is a home win over the banged up and not very good Indianapolis Colts, and then a road victory against the Rams, something they haven’t managed since 2013.

Two wins before the bye and the Seahawks would be 3-2, and much more importantly they’d be 2-0 in division games with a tiebreaker over the Rams. That’d certainly calm some nerves given how the Seahawks’s overall performance this month.

Here are the schedules for every NFC West team for the whole of October:

Los Angeles Rams (2-1, 1-0 NFC West)

at Dallas Cowboys, 10 AM PT
vs. Seattle Seahawks, 1:05 PM PT
at Jacksonville Jaguars, 10 AM PT
“vs.” Arizona Cardinals, 10 AM PT (London)
October 29th Bye

Seattle Seahawks (1-2, 1-0 NFC West)

vs. Indianapolis Colts, 5:30 PM PT
at Los Angeles Rams, 1:05 PM PT
October 15th Bye
at New York Giants, 1:25 PM PT
vs. Houston Texans, 1:05 PM PT

Arizona Cardinals (1-2, 0-0 NFC West)

vs. San Francisco 49ers, 1:05 PM PT
at Philadelphia Eagles, 10 AM PT
vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1:05 PM PT
“at” Los Angeles Rams, 10 AM PT (London)
October 29th Bye

San Francisco 49ers (0-3, 0-2 NFC West)

at Arizona Cardinals, 1:05 PM PT
at Indianapolis Colts, 10 AM PT
at Washington Redskins, 10 AM PT
vs. Dallas Cowboys, 1:05 PM PT
at Philadelphia Eagles, 10 AM PT

We obviously want the Seahawks to be 5-2 by the time November rolls around, but how will their rivals fare? I suppose it’s possible for Arizona to get to 4-3 by beating the Niners, Bucs, and then the Rams in London, but this offense looks a shell of its 2015 self, and it’s putting a strain on the defense.

As for the Rams, their own leaky run defense is a nightmare to have against Dallas, so even if their offense continues to look sharp, I don’t expect them to pull off the upset. We’ll look at the Seahawks matchup in due time, then before their trip to London, they have a tricky game against Jacksonville, who’ve at least got a defense that looks to be playing to its high talent level.

The 49ers have four road games in five weeks, three of them at 10 AM. Bad luck for them. They aren’t sniffing the playoffs.

I know the Seahawks haven’t been playing well but it’s hard not to be optimistic that they can have the NFC West lead at the bye, and maintain that through the remainder of October.