Why the Road to Super Bowl LXI Runs Through the NFC West

If you thought the NFC West was dominant in 2025, wait until you get a load of the division in 2026. 

The road to Super Bowl LXI — scheduled for Valentine’s Day 2027 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles — literally and figuratively goes through the NFC West.

· The Seattle Seahawks not only have the Super Bowl LX Lombardi Trophy to prove their greatness, they boast more than $75 million in cap space to make their roster even deeper and better.

· The Los Angeles Rams not only have Most Valuable Player Matthew Stafford and superstar receiver Puka Nacua coming back, they have more than $45 million in cap space to narrow the gap between they and the Seahawks.

· The San Francisco 49ers don’t have quite as much cap space as their rivals — checking in at roughly $25 million per Spotrac — but they have seven more months for all their injured stars to nurse themselves back to health. Though, considering how swaggy George Kittle looked during Super Bowl week as he puttered around Radio Row in his Old Spice scooter, maybe he’ll want to take a little extra time for his torn Achilles tendon to heal.

· And the Arizona Cardinals? They’ve got a new offensive-oriented head coach (Mike LaFleur), plenty of cap space ($34 million), the No. 3 overall pick — and zero expectations because they face the league’s fourth-toughest schedule. What could be better?

Obviously, only one NFC West squad can play in Super Bowl LXI, so if we’re going to handicap the three teams most likely to reach the Big Game, we’re going to have to cast a wider net. So let’s go fishing:

YAWN: SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

If FanDuel is your online sportsbook of choice, then you might already know the Seahawks entered Super Bowl weekend as the odds-on favorite at +750.

Yes, this is a boring call. Everyone believes the Super Bowl champ will make it back. But this is more than recency bias — it’s what the Seahawks deserve for being amazing in the NFL Draft room. Lots of people talk about how nice it can be to have a good quarterback on his initial contract, but not enough detail the beauty of hitting on your draft picks.

Take a peek at the NFL’s 2023 draft — a deep group that features seven first-rounders who’ve already earned at least two Pro Bowl nods. The Seahawks grabbed two of them: cornerback Devon Witherspoon at No. 5 and wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba at No. 20. The year before, they hit on OTs Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, DE Boye Maye (20 sacks), Super Bowl MVP RB Kenneth Walker III and CB Rig Wooten.

That’s how they’re able to sign big-ticket free agents like Sam Darnold and medium-ticket guys like Cooper Kupp still have a $75 million cap-scape war chest. They can afford to keep Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba happy with sweet extensions, yet have enough to fill the few holes they’ll have.

YEP: LOS ANGELES RAMS

If DraftKings is your online sportsbook of choice, then you might already know they believed in the Rams (+950) just as much as the Seahawks (+950) as the weekend began.

Stafford turned 38 on Saturday, but he still boasts the best combination of arm strength and accuracy in the world. He’ll still have Nacua and Davante Adams and Colby Parkinson and Kyren Williams and Blake Corum surrounding him.

And, speaking of good drafting, check out the Rams’ last three drafts. Even if you only gaze adoringly at their pass rushers, 2023 third-rounders Byron Young and Kobie Turner and 2024’s Jared Verse and Braden Fiske have combined for 65 sacks.

They’re skilled, they’re deep, they have two first-round picks (they own the 13th pick courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons), they have money and they have the incentive to play on their home turf in the Super Bowl.

ABOUT TIME: Buffalo Bills

Don’t look now, but Josh Allen turns 30 on May 21. Eight seasons, 127 starts and 299 touchdowns into his career and he has no Super Bowl appearances to show for it.

From a wider perspective, the Bills have enjoyed no worse than a +116 regular-season points differential during each of the last six years and don’t have any Super Bowls to show for it.

Perhaps this is some of the math that encouraged Bills owner Terry Pegula to fire head coach Sean McDermott and switch to Bills OC Joe Brady. Or, more likely, he’s just as frustrated as the fan base.

Regardless, what do the Bills need to do to get to Super Bowl LXI? Considering they’re $10 million over the cap at this moment, they’re going to need to do some magical math.

More specifically, they need to improve Allen’s receiving corps. During the hiring process, Pegula hyped the idea that Brady and GM Brandon Beane are going to be one big mind-meld. If Brady can somehow convince Beane to focus on receivers, then there’s enough here to be the AFC’s Super Bowl rep.