We know enough to know we know something but we don't know everything.
That's how I would explain the NFL landscape through four weeks
If you look at just the NFC West, you might think we don't know anything but that would be wrong.
We know that the Arizona Cardinals lost zero ground despite playing 13 bad quarters of football out of 16 possible quarters.
We know the Seattle Seahawks are significantly better than the NFL world thought they would be in a post-Russell Wilson world.
We know the Los Angeles Rams are struggling to defend their championship.
And we know the San Francisco 49ers are really good when Jimmy Garoppolo is their starting QB.
The rest? We have no idea but we have some clues.
The biggest clue through one month of evidence is the remaining strength of schedule for each team.
With 13 games to play, here's how the NFC West teams stack up from toughest to easiest:
- Cardinals
- Rams
- Seahawks
- 49ers
That's right, the 49ers have the easiest remaining schedule, have the most talent on both sides of the ball and a quarterback who has led the team to the NFC Championship and Super Bowl the last two seasons he was healthy.
The 49ers, in fact, don't play a true road game from November 1st to December 15th.
Right now, the 49ers are probably the best bet to win the NFC West but as we've seen through the first four weeks, anything is possible.