NFC West predictions 2020: Why Seahawks will win the division

The Seattle Seahawks will win the NFC West in 2020.

The NFC West is tough. I am not breaking new ground by stating the obvious. But the Seattle Seahawks are also a good team. In the last two years, the NFC West has produced the Super Bowl team for the NFC. The Rams in 2018 and the 49ers in 2019. Seattle could make it three years in a row this season.

The NFC West has also produced four of the last seven NFC Super Bowl teams. And the Seahawks went back-to-back in the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

So what will happen this year? Here is a guess.

Division prediction

Seahawks 11-5

49ers 10-6

Cardinals 9-7

Rams 8-8

Seattle Seahawks

I realize the Seahawks lost edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney. My fear is that Seattle will not miss him as much in the pass rush as they will in run defense. Clowney is not a LEO and shouldn’t have been expected to be with the Seahawks but he was great overall.

But Seattle’s defense is better overall. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, they have the best secondary and best group of linebackers in the division. The linebacker group, again according to PFF, is the best in the NFL. And Russell Wilson is the best quarterback in the division.

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers lost last season’s Super Bowl but they haven’t lost any talent. They did trade defensive lineman DeForest Buckner but drafted Javon Kinlaw. The only concern right now about Kinlaw is that due to there being no preseason games, all rookies will have a steep and immediate learning curve.

Still, the 49ers have offensive players who fit their system extremely well and can bring heat on the defense. Plus, will Richard Sherman please lose a step at some point? Seattle still misses his absence.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals added DeAndre Hopkins, who might be the best receiver in the NFL, and now Larry Fitzgerald has a worthy counterpart. Plus, quarterback Kyler Murray proved to be worthy of a number one pick in 2019 and should be better this year.

But the Cardinals defense, even though they tried to address issues in the draft, is bad. That doesn’t mean they won’t come to Seattle and beat the Seahawks for absolutely no reason this year, though, much like they do every season.

Los Angeles Rams

The Rams took a step back last year and probably will do the same this year. Their defense is starting to be better than their offense and this is with an offensive-minded coach in Sean McVay. If the Rams had Russell Wilson, they might be contenders for the Super Bowl, but instead, they have Jared Goff.

Defensively, the Rams lost guys who can apply pressure to the opposing quarterback, though. Gone are Dante Fowler, Jr. and Clay Matthews. Los Angeles can’t afford any kind of slippage in the NFC West because it is too tough of a division to try to play from behind.