Welcome to the NFC Best

I'm looking forward to posting on Seattle's triumph in Chicago last Sunday, when I find more time to write.

However, I do have enough time now to note one of the more surprising developments of the 2011 season.

Football fans have long mocked the NFC Worst, dismissing Seattle's decade dominating the division as a function of the chronic weakness of Arizona, San Francisco, and St. Louis. According to conventional wisdom, the only wins that NFC Worst teams could count on were within the division; when pitted against real competition outside the division, the Floptastic Four were doomed. The outcry crested last year, when the Seahawks seized the NFC West title with a 7-9 record, the worst winning percentage of any division winner in the history of the National Football League.

For the first half of the 2011 season, the performance of NFC West teams confirmed the stereotype. Although San Francisco stunned everyone by rocketing to to 7-1, the rest of the division meekly reverted to form. Arizona and Seattle both stumbled to an ugly 2-6, while St. Louis--my preseason pick to win the division--blundered to a pitiful 1-7.

However, since the midseason mark, the division has emerged as the NFC Best. Over the last six weeks, the Cardinals and the Seahawks have soared to 5-1, while the 49ers managed 4-2. No other division's top three teams have as good a record over the last six weeks.

Moreover, some of those wins have come at the expense of tough opponents. Over the last six games, Arizona defeated the Cowboys and the 49ers, Seattle vanquished the Ravens and the Bears, and San Francisco slew the Giants and the Steelers.

The Cardinals and the Seahawks have managed to win despite uneven quarterback play and injuries to key players.

For Arizona and Seattle, the recent surge is likely too little, too late in terms of the playoffs. If one of them wins out and get lots of help, a wild card berth is theoretically possible.

Last year, all four of the division's teams finished with a losing record. This year, as many as three teams in the NFC West could finish at .500 or better. That's progress.

The first half of this season recapitulated the NFC West's past, but so far, the second half has suggested a future rich with promise.

Welcome to the NFC Best.