Remember the San Francisco 49ers of 2010? They were heavily favored to win the NFC West last year. Then they went 1-6 in their first seven games, and never were able to recover.
This year, the St. Louis Rams were also heavily favored to win the NFC West. They are 0-3 right now, and play Washington, Green Bay, Dallas, and New Orleans in their next four games.
My strong guess is that they will be 1-6 after playing these games–maybe even 0-7–and similar to the Niners of last year, will be unable to recover from such a poor start.
The question is who will emerge from the rest of the pack and win the division: the Niners, the Seahawks, or the Cardinals? And might it once again be with a losing record?