Since the 49ers have a bye this week (a much needed break after their worst home loss in over 40 years) I figured I would write about how the 49ers compare to the rest of their division after five weeks. I am not going to try and predict the end of the year records of the whole division or gander as to how the Niners would fair if they made the playoffs. Instead I am going to rank each team in the division in four separate categories: offense, defense, special teams, and coaching.

On the offensive side of the ball the top two teams are hard to separate, and not just because they are close in talent and production, but because of the question of which Seattle team do I try and rank? There is the completely healthy Seattle team that has a decent offensive line, a few good runners, and a few big play options to catch the ball. Then there is other offense that Seattle has fielded this season with Walter Jones, Chris Spencer, and Matt Hasselbeck all out. To be fair I graded the Seahawks on a mixture of the two which still got them as high as number two in the division; a potentially high powered squad on a team as injury prone as any in the league. That leaves the Arizona Cardinals with the number one ranked offense in the division and I doubt there is any surprise there. Even if their line doesn’t finish out the season they way the unit did last year the Cardinals still have three receivers who caught for 1,000 yards last season, two good young running backs, and a quarterback that was an MVP finalist last season. Hell when Arizona’s line plays up to potential they are one of the best offenses in the whole NFL not just the NFC West. At number three we have the San Francisco 49ers, a team that lacks star power (especially when Frank Gore is out) and never looks pretty but does a good job of putting up enough points to get the team in a position to win. The main concerns for this unit are the offensive line and the fact that their best offensive weapon is a special teams unit that does a good job of giving the offense good field position to work with. This leaves the last (and undoubtedly least) ranking for the disaster that has been the St. Louis Rams this season. They don’t have a quarterback that can take them to the playoffs anymore with Mark Bulger getting older and more injury prone and Kyle Boller simply being a fine back up. The offensive line is a work in progress to be kind (though they have at least a couple solid pieces in Jason Brown and Jason Smith) and their only receiving threat is Donnie Avery who is regressing from his rookie year.

Picking the order for the defensive side of the ball was a bit easier than picking the offense, in fact I would go as far as to say that the order is almost indisputable. The 49ers have the best defense in the division and you don’t need to look at the fact that they rank 6^th in the league in yards allowed to know that but simply watch them (in any game OTHER than the Atlanta game) and see how disciplined and aggressive they are. This unit comes out to hit people in the mouth (thank you Mike Singletary) every play, they go out to leave every team they play bruised and beaten and so far they have succeeded. Second place goes to the Seahawks whose talent-laden defense has under performed in the last couple of seasons. They seem to be getting back on track but this unit is still not one that can carry a team, which is evident by how well the Seahawks do when their offense isn’t in rhythm or when Hasselbeck is out. In those situations they do not have what it takes to create a victory for this team the way the 49er defense has. Coming in third is the Cardinal defense, a unit I would have expected to rank number two in the division coming into this year but has not seemed to build upon last years post season success. Because of this, and the fact that a number of the defensive players became disgruntled in the offseason, this unit has not come together and played solid football consistently for any substantial measure of time so far this season. This all once again leaves the Rams last in the division. Once again, however, I am surprised to see myself writing this. I thought that with Chris Long and James Laurinaitis and supposed defensive guru Steve Spagnuolo as the new head coach this unit had a chance to make some major strides this season. Granted it is not too late for that too happen, I just expected it to happen sooner.

When it comes to special teams the 49ers once again find themselves on top of the division, thanks in large part to two of the best kickers in the league in Andy Lee and Joe Nedney as well as one of the best special teams coordinators in the league in Al Everst. Lee has been kicking the ball very well and Nedney only has missed two field goals all year and both were over 40 yarders. Add special teams stand outs such as Michael Robinson and Scott McKillop to that equation and you get one of the best special teams units in the league. Coming up second in this department is Arizona, who has done a particularly good job on kick offs this year as their opponents starting field position on kick offs is behind the 21 yard line. Neil Rackers continues his trend of being one of the more accurate kickers in the league this year to help the Cardinals make sure they get points from getting into opposing teams territory, although leg strength does continue to be Rackers short coming so they do have to get relatively deep into opponents territory. Third place goes to the Seahawks who seem to be struggling on coverage and are still lacking a place kicker as good as the one they let get away in Josh Brown. Better production out of the special teams could go a long way to helping a defensive unit that is still under performing, especially if Hasselbeck finds himself on the sidelines again at any point this year. Last and once again least we have the Rams who have let the opposing team win the field position battle in every game they have played so far this year and their star place kicker, the afore mentioned Josh Brown, is converting a horrible 40% of his field goal attempts into points so far this year. Once again this is not the kind of thing most people thought they would be getting out of a Steve Spagnuolo coached team and something that needs to turn around if they Rams hope to get back to their championship ways.

When it comes to the coaching there are always many factors that they have to deal with that the media and public never know about so it is hard to say for sure who is the best and worst coach in the division, but we can rank them based on production and how prepared their teams are, and once again I am going to have to give the 49ers the number one ranking. Now I know that Ken Whisenhunt just went to a Super Bowl and Jim Mora Jr. has already led a team to the playoffs (though not the team he is currently coaching) and Steve Spagnuolo has a Super Bowl ring, but I am only looking at this year. This year the 49ers have come out with intensity, focus, and a solid game plan every game, something I don’t believe you can say about any other team in the division, that is why Singletary takes the number one ranking. I will give second to Mora because he has his team tied for second in the division with a team that had much higher hopes for the season and has had many less injuries. That team, of course, is the Arizona cardinals and their coach Whisenhunt comes in third (remember I am just ranking them based on this season so far) mainly because he has failed to prevent his team under-going a Super Bowl slump. Manny very good coaches have had to deal with it and done worse at it than Whisenhunt but to go from NFC champs to hoping you can turn it around and win one of the weaker divisions in football is a bit disappointing for everyone involved. This points once again to the Rams finding themselves at the bottom of the NFC West food chain, but I don’t put that all on Spagnuolo. A head coach can’t turn a team around on his own, and finding the right coordinators and position coaches can make a head coach look fantastic. It is, however, also one of the harder things for first time head coaches to do, given the fact that we already know Spagnuolo is a smart guy and a good coach I think it is safe to say that this will catch up with him, and if the Rams give him enough time to let that happen with their organization the pay off for them could be very nice.