Kurtenbach: Best division in football? Breaking down how the 49ers stack up against their NFC West rivals

We re just days away from the start of the NFL season and the spirit of rivalry is in the air With new rivalry uniforms in tow and just days from the first competition and first NFC West matchup of the season it had me thinking How do the ers stack up with their division rivals This might be the best division in football this season in you can easily convince me of any order one through four at the end of the season Related Articles Two wide receivers and no punter the ers work-in-progress roster shows its flaws Kurtenbach Jake Moody s latest misses should seal his ers fate ers Studs and Duds Niners end preseason with more questions than answers The ers are panic-buying to cover their roster-building mistakes Kurtenbach The ers aren t ready and it s hard to see that changing And while the ers have the best odds to win the West they re not far ahead of their peers In fact with selected of the year-over-year improvements their rivals have made this could prove to be the Niners toughest six-game division slate in the Kyle Shanahan era So how can the Arizona Cardinals Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams beat the ers And how can the ers beat them Let s put it all on paper before the chaos commences Arizona Cardinals Why the Cardinals can beat the ers Early season Kyler Murray The diminutive Cardinals quarterback is great at the beginning of seasons but as soon as he takes a limited hits he fades as he stops running and becomes a diminutive pocket passer Will he turn in before Week Built to kill Head coach Jonathan Gannon s defense was built to destroy outsize zone runs The Cardinals will show a five-man front mixing linebackers ends tackles and even safeties to close off the edge with safety Budda Baker playing in essence a free-roaming Mike linebacker behind it This is the Vikings chaos defense remember how the Niners struggled with that with more structure And this year they have the dudes to execute at a top- level The talent is there Let me know if you can tackle James Conner The Niners are looking for someone who can He now has a capable backup in Trey Benson Add in tight end Trey McBride and his solid backup Tip Reiman and the theoretical breakout for wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr plus an offensive line that boasts solid tackles in Paris Johnson and Jonah Williams and you have the deepest Cardinals crew in a long long time Why the ers can beat the Cardinals Harrison might not break out The Ohio State product decided to get ripped this offseason I don t think that was the concern Marv Will Arizona start throwing to him over the middle of the field or will the Cardinals offense still be stuck at mediocre at best And if they make the necessary changes to the offense will Harrison take advantage No explosive plays The Cardinals were last in drives per battle last year and if they did not create explosive plays in the pass competition as in not getting any YAC whatsoever This Arizona offense demands a schematic overhaul Baker s men If Baker is out there s no reasonable replacement for him and the Cardinals defense looks rather pedestrian Arizona has excellent players on that side of the ball but he is their everything Los Angeles Rams Related Articles Two wide receivers and no punter the ers work-in-progress roster shows its flaws Kurtenbach Jake Moody s latest misses should seal his ers fate ers Studs and Duds Niners end preseason with more questions than answers The ers are panic-buying to cover their roster-building mistakes Kurtenbach The ers aren t ready and it s hard to see that changing Why the Rams can beat the ers A better coach There are two teams in the league who can say for certain they have a head coaching and offensive coordinator advantage over the ers One is the Chiefs led by Andy Reid The other is the Rams Sean McVay s aggressive pragmatism is the model for success in the NFL which is why when the Rams do something one year the ers seem to copy it the next There will never be a championship where the Rams are unprepared or predictable it s merely a question of the quality of roster between these teams That can be a toss-up either way this season Chris Shula is outstanding Don t sleep on the defensive coordinator either He has ushered a young defense to the point of competency and he s been feeding them a steady diet of Cover and Cover looks that absolutely flummox offenses These kids are now experts on those schemes It s still a Big Four Quarterback Matt Stafford has a new weapon in Davonte Adams who still has it folks Add in Puka Nakua and Kyren Williams and it s as good a four-man skill-position grouping as anyone has in the league Yes including a healthy ers Why the ers can beat the Rams Is Stafford alive Jimmy Garoppolo isn t beating anyone these days Meanwhile Stafford spent August in an oxygenated Airstream sitting on a vibrating table with red lights above him all in the effort to have his back heal enough to be able to play No I m not kidding I m sure the Texans hard-hitting defense will respect Stafford s wishes in Week and keep his lumbar discs in place Luckily the Rams have a great offensive line wait what s that now An embarrassing secondary There s a lot to like about the Rams defensive front four The Rams don t care about linebackers so we won t say front seven Behind them Whooo buddy That might be the worst secondary in the NFL The scheme can only cover up so much If that pass rush isn t elite quarterbacks will have a field day against them George Kittle Who is going to guard him on the Rams I eagerly await your answer Dies of old age Seattle Seahawks Why the Seahawks can beat the ers Merry Christmas Do you remember Christmas I certainly do What a colossal waste of time it was as the Baltimore Ravens defense came to Levi s Stadium and put Brock Purdy in a blender The defensive coordinator of that Ravens club was Mike McDonald and he even more so than Gannon has a defensive scheme built to kill a Kyle Shanahan offense In his second year in Seattle he has the dudes to execute that scheme now The Seahawks defensive line is outstanding particularly in the middle and their secondary is versatile and dangerous They re going to throw the kitchen sink at the ers offense and with this kind of talent and that could make games could look like Christmas Darnold Time And the Seahawks new quarterback might just have time as the Seattle offensive line looks like it could be competent for the first time in a decade Rookie Grey Zabel looked great at left guard in preseason and Jalen Sundell a fellow NDSU Buffalo is a plus center something this club has lacked for a long time In the preseason this five-man unit was creating massive holes in the run championship and nice protection inside a Klint Kubiak passing attack Darnold has particular death-or-glory to his contest but he should be behind a better offensive line in Seattle than he was in Minnesota What does that look like The Niners perhaps don t want to find out JSN Jaxon Smith Njigba put up serious stats despite being used in uncreative unremarkable tactics last season Now he s in an offensive that will move him around the formation seeking mismatches Think Amon Ra St Brown folks Paired with a running back room that goes three deep and a sneaky good tight end roster and the Seahawks should be able to move the ball by air or ground Why the ers can beat the Seahawks Hype hurts If you can t tell I m buying the Hawks in I might also be a year early Or maybe that year never comes Hope is for fools But while I think this group is poised to break out it has the same issue as the Niners a lack of usable depth Injuries could ravage Seattle the same way it could take down San Francisco or the Rams or the Cardinals my goodness might everyone in this division go - WR Tory Horton is the hipster rookie of the preseason but he might not be ready to be the teams No wide receiver Jake Bobo might not stand up to the scrutiny either And what is Cooper Kupp in besides kind of depressing to watch JSN is awesome but at a certain point he ll need help LBs in Space The Seahawks linebackers are outstanding in the run challenge but they are not particularly good moving backwards the thing a classic Shanahan attack wants to make them do Can San Francisco or anyone else tap into the vintage under-center play-action contest enough to exploit this against what might be the best defense in football We ll find out Week