NFC West Week 10 Check In: 49ers Refuse to Give Up Top Spot

This past week was an entertaining one in the NFC west division with the 49ers still atop the division.

Another week of the 2019 NFL regular season is in the books with the NFC west still looking strong. However, no team in the division is looking stronger than the San Francisco 49ers who refuse to give up their top spot in the division. 

The Arizona Cardinals almost came close to upsetting the 49ers, but their efforts were not enough on Halloween night. As for the Los Angeles Rams, they did not need to give any effort this past week since they were on a bye. It is much needed rest for them so they can come out of it surfing to reclaim their top spot in the NFC west. 

Lastly, the Seattle Seahawks continue to stay hot with a nail biting win this past Sunday. With their win, it sets up a thunderous matchup between them and the 49ers in primetime. Before getting into that, let’s check in with the teams in the NFC west to see how they fared this past week.

San Francisco 49ers (8-0)

The 49ers got their week nine matchup with the Cardinals expedited due to Thursday night football. All the talk surrounding the 49ers was how they would fare on a short week. Considering they collapsed in the second half, it was pretty telling of their exhaustion. It’s only natural since such a quick turnaround is a strenuous process on players and coaches. 

The 49ers still remain atop the division with their undefeated record and will now set their eyes towards the Seahawks on Monday night. It is a game that will be an absolute battle. Expect the 49ers to have their issues with the Seahawks since the Cardinals provided a blueprint on how to attack the 49ers’ defense. Not to mention Kwon Alexander is out for the season, which will leave Dre Greenlaw as a point of attack for the Seahawks. 

This is by far the most important game the 49ers will have played since moving to Levi’s Stadium. To make matters worse, Russell Wilson has been performing out of his mind. The guy is by far the lead candidate for MVP, which will once again put the 49ers’ defense to the test. A loss to the Seahawks will not be horrible, but it’ll be a tough loss since it’ll close the gap between the two teams. The NFC is stacked with elite teams and as great as the 49ers have been, they really can’t afford a loss.

Seattle Seahawks (7-2)

The Seahawks just continue to roll despite their speed bump encounter with the Baltimore Ravens a couple of weeks ago. Seattle emerged victorious with their matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it didn’t come easy. This game went down to the wire and it needed overtime to determine the winner. Russell Wilson continued his MVP campaign by tossing five touchdown and over 400 yards passing to seal the deal. 

He’ll be looking for a similar performance when his Seahawks fly down to Santa Clara for a Monday night matchup with the 49ers. The Seahawks can thank the Cardinals for exploiting weaknesses on the 49ers’ vaunted defense. They’ll be sure to take every little note of what worked well. However, the Seahawks themselves also have a blueprint that the 49ers can look at for attacking them. The last three weeks for the Seahawks have not been clean games, especially against the Ravens. 

There is no doubt that Kyle Shanahan and his staff will be reviewing these games over to make sure no stone is left unturned. The Seahawks will have to break their tendencies if they want to win against the 49ers. Shanahan has had extra time to study the Seahawks thanks to their matchup on Thursday night. That just spells disaster for the Seahawks defense, which means it’ll be all up to Wilson to try to escape Levi’s Stadium with a win.

Arizona Cardinals (3-5-1)

You have to give the Cardinals some credit. They hung in there against the 49ers down to the last play of the game to give themselves a chance at an upset. Unfortunately for them, it was a case of too little too late. Despite the loss, the Cardinals did prove that they aren’t pushovers. It was looking so bleak for them on Thursday night that it would’ve been a miracle for them to have scored another touchdown after their opening drive.

 Yet they were able to make the right adjustments at halftime and come out with a strong mindset to push back against the 49ers. Of course, the short week did aid them since the 49ers had to travel. Short weeks tend to favor lower-tier teams than they do top-tier teams, so this was the Cardinals’ best chance to win against the 49ers. 

The two teams will meet again in just a couple of weeks. Until then, the Cardinals will head over to the east coast to take on the Buccaneers who are coming off a tough loss to the Seahawks. A win against them, will have the NFC west 3-1 against the Buccaneers. 

Los Angeles Rams (5-3)

As stated from the beginning, the Rams spent this past week resting as they are on their bye. They will pick things back up this Sunday when they face the Pittsburgh Steelers with hopes to improving their winning streak to three games.