As of Week 16 it's official: NFL Power Rankings writers are now admitting they have no idea what to do with the derelict NFC West, where the St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals all lost big and ugly, where the champion will now have an 8-8 record if we're lucky. At the top the Patriots, Falcons, Ravens and Eagles all continue to fight for recognition, but our story begins lower—around the bottom 10, where all four NFC West teams have taken up permanent residence.
↵SB Nation's in-house rankings begin with the Rams at 22—flipped with the 23 Seahawks this week, because why not? The San Francisco 49ers' failure to capitalize on their chance to get back into the non-race bumps them down to 26 from 24, and the Arizona Cardinals, the also-rans among the also-rans, fall to 31 after losing to the two-win Carolina Panthers. At 32 they have Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos to thank.
↵At ESPN the Rams are at number 20, though I can't explain why. The Seahawks sit at 23, while the 49ers fall to 25 and the Cardinals to 29. Fox Sports, the permanent optimists, have the Rams at 18, with the Seahawks at 24 (do they know something we don't?), the 49ers at 25, and the Cardinals at the very bottom of the league.
↵