Get ready, San Francisco 49ers fans. Clear your throats and get ready to groan: The Seattle Seahawks are in first place in the NFC West. Now that you've caught your breath and your eyes are rolling, let's talk about how this happened. Don't worry; there's one good thing we can pull from this at the very end. It rhymes with "Cams."
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But first, the story thus far...
We all know how the 49ers absolutely botched their game against the Minnesota Vikings. They had every opportunity to take it but couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot before it was too late. The loss puts them at 1-1 with a lot of questions. The biggest one is: What exactly is this team? Yes, it's Week 2, but there are overreactions, and there are character traits. You can find the latter over the first two, maybe three weeks. If we were able to discern this season prior, I'd be damned if I have any idea what team the 49ers are in 2024.
Meanwhile, the rest of the NFC West has seen a resurgence in the division. The Seahawks are 2-0, while the Cardinals are much, much better than many expected. Let's have a look.
Seattle Seahawks (2-0)
The Seattle Seahawks had quite a football game against the New England Patriots. Two games in, and it's safe to say the Patriots are better than many predicted. Throughout the entire game, the Patriots hung with a much better Seahawk team, even taking the lead. Unfortunately, with 55 seconds left in the game, Jason Myers nailed a field goal to send the game to overtime.
With overtime, the Patriots couldn't get much of anything, and next thing you know, Jason Myers is back in field goal range, hitting a 31-yarder.
The win puts the Seahawks in first place. Keep in mind that the Seahawks went to first place last year—for a hot minute.
It's still a long season, is all I'm saying.
Arizona Cardinals (1-1)/Los Angeles Rams (0-2)
If you thought the 49ers had injury issues, you clearly haven't been watching the team in Levi's South. The Rams took on the Cardinals and got absolutely manhandled.
41-10 is an embarrassing final score for any team. For the Rams, it's expected and understood, given their injury issues. Much like the Patriots, it is fair to say the Cardinals might be better than I gave them credit for, but 10 points means something is wrong. And that is, the Rams' injury issues are worse than the 49ers'.
It got worse against the Cardinals on Sunday, as Wide receiver Cooper Kupp exited the game in the second quarter with a bit of a limp and didn't return. In his post-game press conference, Sean McVay did not address the injury, but there are reports that Kupp was in a walking boot when he left the locker room.
So that's now Kupp and Puka Nacua, who are bit with the injury bug. The Rams' wide receivers were already starving for help. With the Kupp injury, they are downright crippled.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals may be 1-1, but that Week 1 loss was quite impressive if you see how the Buffalo Bills defense played on Thursday Night Football. The Cardinals don't get the 49ers until Week 5, which gives the 49ers time to right some of the things going wrong over there. One thing is certain with the Cardinals: That game is going to be no gimmie.
Onto Week 3
The Seahawks will be hosting the Miami Dolphins. This is a lucky break for the Seahawks as they not only get a home game against what I think is an underachieving Dolphins squad but also without the Dolphins' starting quarterback. Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa went down with another nasty concussion, a concussion that has brought questions about how/if he finishes his career rather than just the 2024 season. It's a safe bet that Tagovailoa won't be playing this week.
The Cardinals will be hosting the Detroit Lions. The Lions lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Given how the Cardinals have played the last two weeks, that might be a fun game to watch.
Now, the fun part. The 49ers, with all of their injury issues, playcalling questions, and defensive softness, get a very, very hobbled Rams squad with an offense that only scored ten measly points. The Rams most likely won't have Nacua, nor will they have Kupp. If the defense cannot hold things together (yes, I know the 49ers defense has its own injuries) in this game, that's a huge, huge problem.
1st: Seattle Seahawks; Next: vs. Miami Dolphins
2nd: Arizona Cardinals; Next: vs. Detroit Lions
3rd: San Francisco 49ers; Next: vs. Los Angeles Rams
4th: Los Angeles Rams; Next: at San Francisco 49ers
