Week 14 in the NFC West did nothing to clarify the playoff situation in the NFL's most confusing division. Not only did the first-place St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks each lose convincingly, but the Seahawks lost convincingly to the San Francisco 49ers—by a score of 40-24—putting a team that two weeks ago couldn't choose between two enigmatic quarterbacks with the same last name into the playoff picture at 5-8.
↵The 49ers are now four for their last six, which in NFC West terms is an almost astounding amount of momentum. After their ugly start to the season they've found some inexplicably stable play on offense and won some of the close games they lost in the first half. But I'm not convinced they're one game better than the Rams or the Seahawks from this point forward.
↵In fact, Arizona Cardinals aside—and even they won last week, by a brutal 43-13 score against the rudderless Denver Broncos—I'm not convinced any team in the NFC West is a game better than any other team in the NFC West. It's going to be an interesting home stretch, to say the least, if not an especially well-played one.
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