Seahawks will win NFC West

With four games left, the Seattle Seahawks find themselves atop the highest perch in the NFC West standings. Will the Seahawks end up winning the division?

The Seattle Seahawks find themselves at a very strong 10-2 through their first 12 games of the 2019 NFL season. Since the division rival San Francisco 49ers lost last week on the road vs. the Baltimore Ravens, Seattle is now in first place in the NFC West, thanks to having the head-to-head tiebreaker over the 49ers from their earlier meeting this year. Is Seattle winning the division?

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, look at the final four games of the NFL regular season and see which team they believe will end up winning the NFC West this year (2:30).

Verderame believes that it will end up being Seattle at the end of the day because the Seahawks’ schedule is incredibly favorable to them, while the 49ers’ is considerably more difficult. Seattle has to play on the road vs. the Los Angeles Rams this week, at the Carolina Panthers in Week 15, host the division rival Arizona Cardinals in Week 16 and host the 49ers, possibly for it all in Week 16.

Seattle will be favored in those final three games and right now is a pick ’em vs. the Rams in Los Angeles. The Seahawks could fall in Los Angeles, but they have yet to succumb to a road defeat this season. Add in that they are playing significantly better football than the Rams and Seattle could end up knocking Los Angeles out of the NFC playoff picture entirely with yet another win.

As for the 49ers, they still have two brutal road games left on the slate. They have to play the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome this week and at CenturyLink Field in Seattle in Week 17. Though they will be favored over both the Atlanta Falcons and the Rams in their Week 15 and Week 16 home games, how sure are we that 12-4 even wins the NFC West this year?

Right now, 13-3 feels like it will be the record that is needed to win the NFC West. Since all four of the Seahawks’ remaining games are winnable, their pathway to 13-3 and a first-round bye is very much in play. San Francisco is still very much alive for it, but a loss in The Big Easy to their former division rival in the Saints could make things more complicated for the 49ers to win the division.

Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• Russell Wilson is the difference-maker – 4:45
• NFL won’t clear Antonio Brown because he’ll sign with the Patriots – 16:11
• Josh Allen proved he’s not a bust – 36:35
• No one will want the Cleveland Browns job – 43:24

All this and more!

Subscribe to Stacking The Box and follow Geoff Schwartz, Matt Verderame and Mark Carman on Twitter.