The NFC West just continues to win in the playoffs.
The Los Angeles Rams drilled the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 27-9 in the final Wild Card game of the 2025 NFL Playoffs. Within the context of the game, the main story is Sam Darnold’s atrocious performance, taking a playoff record-tying nine sacks to go along with a lost fumble for a touchdown and an interception. Darnold’s future with the Vikings looked to go from “bridge quarterback” to “franchise quarterback?” to “comp pick, anyone?” in the span of a couple of weeks.
Seattle Seahawks fans hoping to see their NFC West rivals exit as early as possible will now have to root for the Philadelphia Eagles to see off Sean McVay’s resilient team in the NFC Divisional Round.
One notable statistical nugget that may be of no interest to you but is of interest to me is the remarkable run the NFC West has had in January. Since the NFL realigned its divisions in 2002 to make way for the Houston Texans, the NFC West has won at least one playoff game in 21 out of a possible 23 seasons. The exceptions were the 2003 season, when the St. Louis Rams suffered a huge upset loss to the Carolina Panthers in the Divisional Round, while the Seahawks lost in overtime to the Green Bay Packers, and the Rams’ Wild Card exit to the Atlanta Falcons as the lone representative in 2017.
Number of seasons with at least one playoff win since 2002
NFC West: 21 seasons
AFC East: 21 seasons
NFC South: 18 seasons (didn’t win this season)
AFC South: 17 seasons
AFC North: 16 seasons
AFC West: 14 seasons
NFC North: 15 seasons (will stay at 15 if the Lions lose next week to the Washington Commanders)
NFC East: 14 seasons
The NFC West collectively has 42 playoff wins since 2002. No other division has 40 and that’s even with the AFC East being buoyed by the New England Patriots’ ridiculous 27 postseason victories. Only the NFC West and NFC South have had every team win at least five playoff games and reach the Super Bowl during that span.
Yes, there have been a couple of instances where the NFC West streak involved beating another NFC West team, including (twice) the Rams beating the Seahawks in the Wild Card before losing the following week. It’s still an uncanny and remarkable statistic that shows the postseason strength of this division. The “worst” playoff team is the Arizona Cardinals at 5-5.
Of course, I assume the only streak that we want to see is the Seahawks’ five-year playoff win drought come to an end. They haven’t exactly been contributing a lot of the NFC West win total. Your guess is as good as mine as to when Seattle will return to postseason glory, but in the meantime…
E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!