In 2002, the Houston Texans became the 32nd team in the National Football League. With that new team came a division realignment, with each division having 4 teams instead of 5. Gone from the NFC West were the Panthers, Saints, and Falcons, who formed the NFC South (I've always thought it ironic that the majority of the old NFCW now makes up most of the NFCS). Joining the
49ers and Rams in the divison were the Seattle Seahawks, who returned to the division in which they originally played, and the Arizona Cardinals, who were moved from the NFC East to a more geographically sensible division. There have been 5 seasons since the realignment, and I thought it would be interesting to take a look back and see how the "new" NFC West has shaped up.
Seattle Seahawks
Regular season record: 48-32
Playoff record: 3-4
Division titles: 3
record vs. Rams: 6-4 (2 sweeps)*
record vs.
49ers: 6-4 (3 sweeps)
record vs. Cardinals: 7-3 (2 sweeps)
record vs. division: 19-11 (.633)
St. Louis Rams
Regular season record: 41-39
Playoff record: 1-2
Division titles: 1
record vs. Seahawks: 4-6 (1 sweep)*
record vs.
49ers: 5-5 (1 sweep)
record vs. Cardinals: 7-3 (2 sweeps)
record vs. division: 16-14 (.533)
San Francisco
49ers
Regular season record: 30-50
Playoff record: 1-1
Division titles: 1
record vs. Seahawks: 4-6 (2 sweeps)
record vs. Rams: 5-5 (1 sweep)
record vs. Cardinals: 5-5 (2 sweeps)
record vs. division: 14-16 (.467)
Arizona Cardinals
Regular season record: 25-55
Playoff record: N/A
Division titles: lol
record vs. Seahawks: 3-7
record vs. Rams: 3-7
record vs.
49ers: 5-5 (2 sweeps)
record vs. division: 11-19 (.367)
I was a little surprised that despite 3 straight division wins, the Seahawks don't have that many more wins than the Rams. It'll be interesting to see how the next 5 years shapes up and what the division will look like after 10 years.
*I only counted regular season games, so this does not include the Rams victory over the Seahawks in the 2004 Wild Card game.
Apologies to anyone who's seen this on another board 
Linear Mode
