NFC West

The National Football Conference – Western Division or NFC West is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference in the National Football League. It currently has four members: the Arizona Cardinals, the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Seattle Seahawks.

History

The division was formed in 1967 as the National Football League Coastal Division, keeping with the theme of having all of the league's divisions starting with the letter "C." The division was so named because its teams were fairly close to the coasts of the United States, although they were on opposite coasts, making for long travel between division rivals. The NFL Coastal Division had four members: Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Colts, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco 49ers. Los Angeles and San Francisco occupied the West Coast, while Baltimore maintained its dominance over the lesser teams that remained in the division. Atlanta was placed in the division instead of the expansion New Orleans Saints despite being further east than three Eastern Conference teams.
After the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, the division was renamed the NFC West. The Baltimore Colts moved to the AFC East and were replaced by the Saints, who came from the Eastern Conference. In 1976, the newly formed Seattle Seahawks spent one season in this division before moving to the AFC West. Except for that one year, the division remained the same until 1995 with the addition of the new Carolina Panthers team. The Rams moved to St. Louis before that same season, making the division geographically inaccurate. Ten of the fifteen NFC teams were based west of Atlanta, and twelve of them were based west of Charlotte.
The 2002 re-alignment changed the entire look of the NFC West. The Falcons, Panthers, and Saints moved into the NFC South; while the Cardinals moved in from the NFC East and the Seahawks returned from the AFC West. The Rams remained in the West, preserving the historical rivalry with the 49ers that has existed since 1950, and thus had been the only team in the division that was located east of the Rocky Mountains until 2015. Despite this, the re-alignment made the NFC West have all of its teams based west of the Mississippi River. With the Rams' return to Los Angeles in 2016, the entire NFC West is now located west of the Rockies for the first time in its history; all teams except for the Cardinals are based in the Pacific Time Zone. The 2016 season marked the first time neither the 49ers nor Seahawks played a division game east of the Rocky Mountains.
The NFC West became the second division since the 2002 realignment to have each of its teams make a conference championship game appearance: Los Angeles, Arizona, San Francisco, and Seattle. Also since 2002, each team has won at least three division titles, one of only two divisions in the league to do so. All of its teams have appeared in a Super Bowl at least once since the 2002 realignment : Arizona, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco, and Seattle. As of 2024, the NFC West is the only division in the NFC that has not seen at least one of its teams win a Super Bowl when entering that year's playoffs as a wild-card entry.
In 2010, the NFC West became the first division in NFL history to have a champion with a losing record, after the Seattle Seahawks won the division title with a record of 7–9. They were joined in this distinction in 2014 by the Carolina Panthers, who won the NFC South with a record of 7–8–1, 2020 by the Washington Football Team, who won the NFC East also with a record of 7–9, and 2022 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who won the NFC South with a record of 8−9.
Since the end of the 2020 NFL regular season, the 49ers lead the division with a record of 589–499–16 with five Super Bowl titles and an overall playoff record of 33–22. The Rams hold a record of 586–575–21 with five Super Bowl appearances and two wins to go with a 25–26 overall playoff record. The Cardinals hold a 135–167–2 record since joining the NFC West and a loss in Super Bowl XLIII, currently with a 7–9 playoff record, 5–4 as a member of the NFC West. The Seahawks hold a record of 179–124–1 since joining the NFC West, with three Super Bowl appearances, winning Super Bowl XLVIII to go with a playoff record of 17–18; they are currently 14–13 in the playoffs as a member of the NFC West, having gone 3–5 while in the AFC West. Since re-alignment, the Seahawks have led the division in wins, division titles, and playoff appearances.
The NFC West became the 4th division in NFL history to have three of its teams advance to the Divisional Round in the 2025-26 playoffs. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the 49ers 41-6 to advance to the NFC Championship, where they will face the Rams.

Division lineups

''' Place cursor over year for division champ or Super Bowl team.'''

Division champions

*A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special sixteen-team playoff tournament for that year only. Division standings were ignored, and Atlanta had the best record of the division teams.

Wild Card qualifiers

*A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special sixteen-team playoff tournament for that year only. Division standings were ignored.

Season results

;Notes and Tiebreakers

Los Angeles won the Coastal Division based on better point differential in head-to-head games vs. Baltimore. The Rams and Colts played to a 24–24 tie in Baltimore in October before the Rams won 34–10 on the season's final Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The result would be the same under the modern tiebreaker, which relies first on head-to-head record.
The Baltimore Colts won the NFL Championship, but lost to the AFL's New York Jets in Super Bowl III.
Due to player strikes, the league shortened the 1982 season's games and realigned all the teams into conferences. The records for the division teams are based on what it would have looked like if they were still in the division.
Schedule assignments

Former member rivalries

Rams–Saints rivalry
Fans
49er Faithful - Fans of the 49ers.
Mob Squad - Fans of the Rams.
The 12th Man - Fans of the Seahawks
Red Sea - Fans of the Cardinals
Total playoff berths as members of the NFC Coastal/West

Team	Division Championships	Playoff Berths	Super Bowl Appearances	Super Bowl Wins
San Francisco 49ers¹	22	29	8	5
St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams¹	17	28	5	2
Seattle Seahawks²	10	16	4	1
St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals²	3	5	1	0
Atlanta Falcons²	2	6	1	0
New Orleans Saints²	2	5	0	0
Baltimore Colts²	1	1	1	0
Carolina Panthers²	1	1	0	0