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The title of "toughest division in the NFL" remains safely on the west coast. For years, the NFC West has been widely regarded as a gauntlet, and with good reason. The Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers are routinely among the NFL's good-to-great-to-elite teams, and the 2025-2026 season is no different.
Right now, the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers are all in the NFL's version of the "elite eight" aka the Divisional Round. Seattle will host San Francisco, while Los Angeles heads to Chicago. It is a rare instance where a division will send more than two teams to the playoffs, let alone getting three to the Divisional Round. In fact, this is only the fourth time since the NFL/AFL merger of 1970 where this has occurred.
In all three previous instances, the division with three teams at this point in the playoffs sent one of them to the Super Bowl. The 2022 playoffs featured the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, with the Eagles eventually losing Super Bowl LVII to the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1997, the Green Bay Packers emerged ahead of their division rivals Minnesota and Tampa Bay (weird to think about) to lose to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII.
The only instance of a division with three teams eventually winning the Super Bowl was the 1992 NFC East, when the Dallas Cowboys outlasted the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins to win Super Bowl XXVII over the Denver Broncos.
Of course, with three teams remaining out of four available, the odds one of them will make it to the Super Bowl is certainly in the NFC West's favor. The Seahawks will be hoping they are the ones to earn such an honor.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs 49ers: The NFC West is having a historic playoff run
Continue reading...
Right now, the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers are all in the NFL's version of the "elite eight" aka the Divisional Round. Seattle will host San Francisco, while Los Angeles heads to Chicago. It is a rare instance where a division will send more than two teams to the playoffs, let alone getting three to the Divisional Round. In fact, this is only the fourth time since the NFL/AFL merger of 1970 where this has occurred.
In all three previous instances, the division with three teams at this point in the playoffs sent one of them to the Super Bowl. The 2022 playoffs featured the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, with the Eagles eventually losing Super Bowl LVII to the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1997, the Green Bay Packers emerged ahead of their division rivals Minnesota and Tampa Bay (weird to think about) to lose to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII.
The only instance of a division with three teams eventually winning the Super Bowl was the 1992 NFC East, when the Dallas Cowboys outlasted the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins to win Super Bowl XXVII over the Denver Broncos.
Of course, with three teams remaining out of four available, the odds one of them will make it to the Super Bowl is certainly in the NFC West's favor. The Seahawks will be hoping they are the ones to earn such an honor.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs 49ers: The NFC West is having a historic playoff run
Continue reading...
