4. Los Angeles Rams
The Rams' defense has been good enough this year that defensive coordinator Chris Shula is getting some looks from other teams as their next potential head coach. They have had some of the best player development on that side of the ball out of any team in the league the past couple of seasons, and there's no question that they can get after the quarterback.
However, the Rams have also been susceptible this season through the air. Especially in the second half of the season, that Los Angeles pass defense struggled tremendously. They ranked 7th in the league this year on third down and 3rd in the league in the red zone. So even giving up yards through the air, this defense has been consistently tough to score on.
With 26 total takeaways this season, the Rams ranked 5th in the NFL in an important category that can propel them through to the Championship round, even as road warriors.
3. Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks earned the #1 seed in the NFC as one of the most consistently complementary teams in football, but their defense did some heavy lifting at times this season.
People might not realize, based on how great their season turned out, that the Seahawks' offense had 28 giveaways this year, and only one team was worse than that...In the entire NFL.
The Seattle defense almost completely wiped that stat off the board by ranking 6th in the NFL with 25 takeaways, so an offense that was turning the ball over at a relatively high rate was getting consistent mulligans throughout the year. The Seattle defense also ranked 1st in the NFL in points allowed this past season, and they had the #1 third-down defense with the 5th-ranked red zone defense.
They are elite on that side of the ball.