The Seattle Seahawks opened the 2025 campaign as a mighty +6600 shot to win the Lombardi Trophy. Sixty-six to one. Worse odds than a coin landing on heads three times in a row. John Schneider had traded away Geno Smith and DK Metcalf, brought in Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp, and the football world had largely decided this looked like an orderly rebuild wearing a contender's jersey.

Fourteen wins and a first playoff victory since 2019 promptly followed, then a first NFC Championship since 2014. And finally, a 29–13 demolition of the New England Patriots in Santa Clara, Darnold earning his second Pro Bowl nod, Jaxon Smith-Njigba collecting Offensive Player of the Year hardware, the league's top scoring defense doing the unglamorous work that championships are actually built on.

The fairytale was real. Now comes the harder part. Running it back.

Just like last season, the Seahawks aren't even fancied to win their own division, let alone leave Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium next February as back-to-back champions. So, where do they stack up against the rest of the division? Here are each team's hopes of winning the NFC West in 2026.

Los Angeles Rams (+135)

Sean McVay watched his historically good football team lose the NFC Championship because of a muffed punt. Let that sit for a moment. The 2025 Los Angeles Rams became the first team in the PFF era to rank first in both offensive and defensive grading in the same season — a feat that had never been accomplished before.

Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua earned First-Team All-Pro. They went 12–5, their best record since 2018, made it three straight playoff appearances, won at Carolina in the Wild Card, survived overtime in Chicago in the Divisional Round, and then Xavier Smith dropped a punt. Seattle held a lead that the Rams could never chase down. An offence that was, by measurable standards, the best in football still wasn't enough.

Is there a hungrier team in the NFC than a Rams squad that believes — with reasonable justification — that circumstance, not talent, cost them a ring? One look at the latest online betting odds suggests that the bookmakers may well believe that as well. The early 2026 season odds from 7signs online sportsbook list McVay's men as the narrow +135 favorite to win the NFC West next season, and considering their offseason work, this is a team that means business.

The cornerback room that buckled under pressure against Seattle needed a transplant, and the front office delivered one: Trent McDuffie, acquired from Kansas City in exchange for the No. 29 overall pick, a fifth, a sixth, and a 2027 third-rounder, then immediately locked in on a four-year extension through 2030. His former Chiefs teammate Jaylen Watson signed a three-year deal alongside him. Will that be enough to catapult them past Seattle? McVay is betting it will.

Seattle Seahawks (+165)

Defending champions Seattle will have to navigate the inevitable Super Bowl hangover without several pillars of last year's championship-winning campaign. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III departed for the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency; cornerback Riq Woolen, safety Coby Bryant, and edge rusher Boye Mafe all followed him out of Lumen Field. The secondary that made Seattle's top-ranked scoring defense so suffocating lost meaningful contributors before the confetti had fully settled.

But Schneider's approach has been deliberate rather than reactive — and after last year, he's earned the right to trust his own judgment. In the first round, he drafted Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price as Walker's direct replacement; retained special teams weapon Rashid Shaheed; added Dante Fowler Jr. for pass rush depth.

The pillars that remain are formidable: Darnold and Smith-Njigba headline an offence that delivered 14 regular-season wins; Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence anchor a defensive front that can still suffocate; Ernest Jones IV and Devon Witherspoon give the back seven genuine credibility. Head coach Mike Macdonald — still very much ascending in his third season — has demonstrated an uncanny ability to maximize this roster's ceiling. The Seahawks enter 2026 on a 10-game winning streak. They know how to win.

San Francisco 49ers (+260)

No team in football was hit harder by injuries in 2025 — and yet, Kyle Shanahan kept his shorthanded squad in contention for the NFC's No. 1 seed into the season's final week. Fred Warner played just six games. Nick Bosa appeared in three. The defense still finished 13th in scoring, allowing fewer than 17 points six times, but dead last in sacks with just 20 and tied for second-fewest interceptions in the league with six. What happens when the league's most injury-ravaged roster finally gets everyone back on the field at the same time? That's the +260 question — and it's a genuinely tantalizing one.

The Niners finished 12–5 and reached the Divisional Round, beating the defending champion Eagles in the Wild Card before getting dismantled 41–6 by Seattle in a lopsided rematch. The excuses are gone now. And they are very much alive in this three-way fight for the NFC West.

Mike Evans and Christian Kirk arrived at wide receiver to offset the departure of Jauan Jennings, while first-round pick De'Zhaun Stribling adds another ascending receiving option. The defensive rebuild centers on health: Bosa and Mykel Williams are expected back from ACL injuries, while acquired defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa via trade reinforces a front that was neutered by attrition last year. With those marquee returns and Brock Purdy continuing to develop, write off the Niners at your peril.

Arizona Cardinals (+6000)

One team that most certainly isn't alive in arguably the most stacked division in football is the Arizona Cardinals. Spare a thought for them. The bookies make them mighty +6000 outsiders just to win the division, let alone the Super Bowl.

Their 2025 campaign was an unmitigated disaster: 3-14, Kyler Murray was injured yet again, and the wait for him to finally develop into a superstar was over. The 2019 number one overall pick was released to a monster cap hit, with Jacoby Brissett set to continue as starter, provided that his contract holdout reaches a mutually beneficial conclusion. Still, the outlook is incredibly bleak, and it could be years until the Cardinals are genuinely competing for Divisional titles again.