The NFC West in the 2024 NFL Season might not be a foregone conclusion, as the division could be a three-horse race in the coming season. The San Francisco 49ers have won the division two years in a row and have gone 2-1 in the playoffs in four of the last five seasons. With Super Bowl appearances in 2019 and 2023, the Niners have emerged as the best overall team in the conference over the last half-decade.
However, both the Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals have enjoyed success in recent seasons, with the Rams winning the Super Bowl in 2021 and the Cardinals surprising with an 11-6 season in that same year. Both the Rams and Cardinals have made some progress this offseason, and while the Rams did win 10 games in 2023 and are poised to make life hard for the 49ers, I would not count out the Cardinals, either.
The Cards won just four games in 2023 but really showed some fight. Their four wins were against the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Philadelphia Eagles, so they were beating some talented teams in 2023. The main issue with Arizona isn't their coaching, as Jonathan Gannon appears to be the right hire, but their roster was just left in shambles by the previous regime, leaving the new GM, Monti Ossenfort, with a ton to cleanup.
The Cardinals added some much-needed talent on both sides of the ball, including Marvin Harrison Jr and Darius Robinson in the 2024 NFL Draft, right tackle Jonah Williams in free agency, and some underrated defensive additions with DT Justin Jones and CB Sean Murphy-Bunting. They might be one more year away, but I would not totally rule this team out.
The LA Rams are pretty self-explanatory. With a very young roster still sprinkled with savvy veterans, the Rams surged late in the season and finished with a 10-7 record. And most importantly, the Rams have one of the best head coach/quarterback duos in the NFL with Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford. It'd make sense for this re-tooling team to take another step forward in 2024, and that step could lead them right into competing for the NFC West title, which could be a three-horse race.