Field Gulls FanPulse: NFC West fans overwhelmingly vote Rams as favorites to win division again

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL, powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Seahawks fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

As promised last week, this week’s edition of SB Nation FanPulse looks at how fans voted for the question, “Which team in [NFL Division] is the favorite in the division?” In other words, NFC West voters were limited to NFC West, AFC East to AFC East, etc.

The votes have been tallied, the graphic has been created, and in no surprise at all, the reigning NFC champion Los Angeles Rams are far and away the favorite to make it three straight division titles.

While the 2017 NFC West race was close up until the alleged 42-7 Rams win over the Seahawks, the Rams ran away with the division title last season and clinched in November. Including both Los Angeles and St. Louis history, the Rams haven’t won three straight division crowns since they topped the NFC West each year from 1973-1979. In the current alignment of the NFC West, only the Seahawks have rattled off at least three in a row, finishing in first-place from 2004-2007.

The Rams are the third-biggest favorite among all teams, with the Kansas City Chiefs at 78% to win the AFC West again, while the New England Patriots were (obviously) second at 77%. I didn’t think we’d ever reach the point where the Cleveland Browns would be favored to win the AFC North, but they stand tall at 53%. Of course, you can vote for your own team to be the favorite, and I suspect Browns fans have reached unprecedented levels of hope that they can get into the playoffs for the first time since 2002.