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NFL

The NFC West is the Best Division in Football

Joe Camporeale - USA TODAY Sports

Joe Camporeale – USA TODAY Sports

There’s a lot of parity in the NFL this year, and both the NFC and AFC seem to have a fair share of legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Within each division, however, there seems to be that team or two that brings down the division’s credibility. The NFC West, though, has more depth and consistency top to bottom than any other division in football.

There are a few divisions in the league for which an argument can be made when debating the league’s best conference, and three divisions in particular — the AFC West, the AFC North, and the AFC East – offer up some pretty solid competition.

Starting with the AFC West, this division is stacked and top heavy. Its two top teams, the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs (both 7-3) have made this division extremely competitive. Denver, despite a lackluster performance last week against the St. Louis Rams, have given plenty of reason to believe that they can challenge for a Super Bowl championship this year. The Chiefs, meanwhile, have been red hot. They’ve won five straight and have proven capable of securing a playoff Wild Card spot at the very least. The San Diego Chargers (6-4) are right at the heels of these two teams. Where this league loses a lot of its credibility is with the disgrace that is the Oakland Raiders. It’s been over a fiscal year since Oakland has won a football game, and the 0-10 Raiders have essentially handed each team within this division two guaranteed wins this season.

The AFC North is an interesting case. On paper, they’re better than any division in football. The Cincinnati Bengals (6-3-1) are currently atop the division, with the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-4) close behind and the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens rounding out the bottom, both with a record of 6-4. This division has more wins than any other in football, and it’s the only division in the league in which every team is over .500. Despite those stats, however, it’s a division without a contender. No team within this division has given any reason to believe they can make a playoff push, and despite solid records from top to bottom, it’s hard to stack this division up with the some of the other elite divisions in football.

The AFC East has a few teams playing some very good football lately. The first place New England Patriots (8-2) have won six straight and the second place Miami Dolphins (6-4) are 4-1 in their last five games. The Buffalo Bills are sitting at .500 and rounding out the bottom of the division are the lowly New York Jets (2-8.) The Jets are 0-2 within the division, and much like the Raiders in the the AFC West, their poor play has brought down the credibility of this division.

All that said, I think it’s safe to label the NFC West as the best division in football. Does that mean the Super Bowl champion or the NFC’s representative for the Super Bowl will come out of this division? Not necessarily. The loss of quarterback Carson Palmer to an ACL tear has put the first place Arizona Cardinals (9-1) in a very vulnerable position, and many don’t think this team has what it takes to achieve playoff success.

Across the board though, this division has solid teams who each have the capability to beat anyone in the league. The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers (both 6-4) will challenge for Wild Card playoff spots, and even the last place St. Louis Rams (4-6) have shown that they can compete with and beat some of the league’s best teams (as shown with wins over the Seahawks, 49ers, and Broncos). Whether this division’s regular-season success can translate into lengthy playoffs runs of any sort remains to be seen.

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