NFC West Standings, Week 11: 49ers retake top spot, stick a fork in the Cardinals and Rams

As expected, the San Francisco 49ers took care of business over the Arizona Cardinals on ‘Monday Night Football’ in Mexico City, thumping an injured and otherwise bad team to the tune of 38-10. The 49ers now lead the NFC West via head-to-head tiebreaker over the Seattle Seahawks, and they currently hold division and conference record tiebreakers over Seattle, too. Realistically, the Seahawks may have to win the division outright instead of via tiebreaker.

If there’s any good news out of the 49ers win it’s that the Cardinals are done. There is no reasonable way to keep them in the division race and their dismal division record means they won’t win a tiebreaker over the 49ers or Seahawks should it somehow come down to that. It is abundantly clear that either San Francisco or Seattle will win the division, and if both teams can string together winning streaks the runner-up should get a wild card berth.

Here are the updated standings through Week 11:

NFC West Standings

1.) 49ers: 6-4 (4-0 DIV)

2.) Seahawks: 6-4 (2-1 DIV)

3.) Cardinals: 4-7 (1-4 DIV)

4.) Rams: 3-7 (1-3 DIV)

Remaining Schedules

Seahawks: vs. Raiders, at Rams, vs. Panthers, vs. 49ers, at Chiefs, vs. Jets, vs. Rams

49ers: vs. Saints, vs. Dolphins, vs. Buccaneers, at Seahawks, vs. Commanders, at Raiders, vs. Cardinals

Cardinals: vs. Chargers, BYE, vs. Patriots, at Broncos, vs. Buccaneers, at Falcons, at 49ers

Rams: at Chiefs, vs. Seahawks, vs. Raiders, at Packers, vs. Broncos, at Chargers, at Seahawks

That Saints game seems like a blowout in the making, but that matchup with the Dolphins might be the most compelling game of the entire NFL season. We sure would love the protege (Mike McDaniel) to topple the teacher (Kyle Shanahan) to kick off December.