After a 2019 season that saw the division send two teams to the playoffs, including the eventual NFC champions, and rack up a combined 38-25-1 record in the regular season, the NFC West enters the 2020 season as the best division in football. It makes picking a division winner in the NFC West all the more difficult.

On the one hand, the 49ers are the division's most talented team, but then again, they only won the division by one lousy yard over the Seahawks a year ago, they lost DeForest Buckner and Emmanuel Sanders this offseason, and they'll be forced to overcome the dreaded Super Bowl hangover. On the one hand, the Seahawks were one yard away from winning the NFC West, but they also went an incredible 10-2 in one-score games, which indicates regression could be coming for them. On the one hand, the Rams still managed to win nine games in a disappointing season where the offense took a substantial step back, but on the other hand, they didn't do much to upgrade either side of the ball this offseason as they worked with both limited funds and draft resources. On the one hand, the Cardinals might've had the best offseason of any team in all of football, but that might not be enough for them to go from a five-win team to a division champion.

All of this is just a long-winded way of saying that huge questions still need answers for all four teams. With that in mind, as we continue our offseason series here at CBS Sports, it's time to look at the burning question that each team in the NFC West needs to answer during the upcoming season.  

Which NFC West teams will go over (and under) their projected win totals? Sean Wagner-McGough joins Will Brinson on the Pick Six Podcast to break down every team in the NFC and AFC West; listen below and be sure to subscribe for daily NFL goodness.

Arizona Cardinals: Can Kyler Murray make the leap from good to great?

There's no doubt that Kyler Murray justified the Cardinals' decision to take him first overall a year ago over Nick Bosa, even though they already had Josh Rosen, the 10th-overall pick in 2018, on their roster. Murray was brilliant for a rookie, capturing Offensive Rookie of the Year honors by completing 64.4 percent of his passes for 3,722 yards, 20 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and an 87.4 passer rating in addition to rushing for 544 yards and four touchdowns. But there's a difference between being great for a rookie and being great without any qualifiers.

For as good as Murray was in 2019, he averaged only 6.9 yards per attempt, which ranked 21st among qualified quarterbacks. By two advanced metrics, DYAR and DVOA, he also ranked 21st. By total QBR, which takes running into account, he still ranked only 15th. None of this is intended to diminish what Murray achieved a year ago. He helped turn a terrible Cardinals team into a competitive team. He might've only improved their win total by 2.5 wins, but he also helped improve their point differential by 119 points. He did all of that behind a terrible offensive line that surrendered 50 sacks (48 of which came at Murray's expense). But he can still improve.

Not only that, he needs to improve if the Cardinals are going to go from competitive to the playoffs. They're stuck in the same division as three teams that combined to go 33-15 a season ago. For the Cardinals to complete their rebuild, Murray needs to go from good to great. The good news is that the Cardinals added DeAndre Hopkins in a trade that can only be described as the steal of the offseason. The other good news is that the Cardinals drafted offensive tackle Josh Jones in the third round -- some considered Jones to be a first-round pick before the draft. So, Murray should be better equipped in 2020 than he was in 2019. He should also be more comfortable after starting a full season and adjusting to the NFL level.

The Cardinals did well to bolster their terrible defense in both free agency and the draft, but ultimately, they're going to need their young quarterback to take huge strides in Year 2 if they're going to compete for the NFC West crown.

Los Angeles Rams: Can Sean McVay's offense rebound?

It was genuinely surprising to see the Rams dismiss defensive coordinator Wade Phillips after a disappointing 9-7 season, largely because it wasn't the defense's fault that they went 9-7 and missed the playoffs. They were the ninth-best defense by DVOA one year after ranking 17th. It was entirely the fault of the offense, which fell from second to 17th by DVOA last season. Don't blame the Rams' defense for their disappointing season. Blame the offense.

The question now becomes, can the Rams' offense rebound? They set the world on fire in 2018, ranking second in yards, points, and DVOA -- only the Chiefs were better. But in 2019, the Rams ranked seventh in yards, 11th in points, and 17th in offensive DVOA. Jared Goff and Todd Gurley both saw their efficiency plummet. And opposing defenses seemingly figured out how to stop the fabled Rams offense. 

To engineer a turnaround, the Rams will need the players who played a part in their demise a season ago to improve in 2020. Goff is still the starting quarterback. He'll need to take steps forward after ranking 15th in DYAR, 18th in DVOA, and 25th in total QBR. After playing great football under Sean McVay for most of the 2017-18 seasons, Goff took a substantial step back a year ago.


Comp. % YPA TD% INT% Rating

2017-18

63.6

8.2

5.8

1.8

100.8

2019

62.9

7.4

3.5

2.6

86.5

The problem is, the Rams didn't really improve the roster around Goff. Gurley is gone. So is Brandin Cooks. Second-round pick Cam Akers is now expected to replaced Gurley, but like all rookies, there's no way to know just how well or bad Akers' transition to the NFL will go. Wide receiver Van Jefferson was added in the second-round as well, but he won't really be able to provide the Rams with the kind of deep threat that Cooks did before his lackluster 2019 season. He's a different style of receiver. 

It makes sense that the Rams didn't do much to improve the offense from a personnel standpoint given their lack of cap space and draft ammunition. But the fact remains that the Rams are counting on largely the same group of players to rebound in 2020 after a disappointing 2019 season. It just remains to be seen if those players -- most notably, Jared Goff -- will be able to do so.

San Francisco 49ers: Can they survive the loss of DeForest Buckner?

It doesn't feel like enough is being made of the 49ers trading away DeForest Buckner. Now, it's completely understandable why the 49ers felt like they needed to send Buckner to Indianapolis in exchange for a first-round pick. Buckner needed a new contract, and with limited funds and a few other key players -- most notably, George Kittle -- needing extensions, the 49ers went out and got something valuable for Buckner and used that first-round pick on his replacement in Javon Kinlaw. But for as much promise as Kinlaw contains, he can't be expected to be Buckner, at least not right away.

Buckner anchored the 49ers' second-ranked defense a year ago. Capable of generating pressure from the interior of the defensive line (28.5 sacks and 74 quarterback hits in four seasons) and stuffing the run (41.5 solo tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss per season), Buckner was the most important player on the 49ers' defensive front. While it remains true that the 49ers' defensive front is still strong with Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead, and that Kinlaw holds tremendous potential, the idea that the 49ers won't miss Buckner is far fetched. 

He's going to be missed. His absence will be felt. 

"Buck was definitely one of my best friends on the team, and seeing him go is obviously bittersweet," Bosa said earlier this month, per ESPN. "He got a pretty good contract and he deserves it, but just losing him as a leader, we're going to have to really figure out how to step up and fill that void because he was the third-down D-line playcaller, he was the hype speech guy, he was everything.

"And I think he played with the best effort on the D-line, which really shows on tape when you see somebody that big sprinting to the ball every play and making those tackles downfield and obviously his pass-rush ability. We're gonna have to step it up for him."

For what it's worth, it would've been totally fine for the 49ers' burning question to be about Jimmy Garoppolo and if he can make the leap from good to great. But I'm not as worried about Garoppolo as I am about the 49ers' being able to adequately replace Buckner. As long as Garoppolo has Kyle Shanahan in his ear and benefits from a top-tier rushing attack, he will be fine. Obviously, if he can make the leap from good to great, he'll minimize the impact of Buckner's absence. There's more way than one to overcome the loss of a key defensive player. If the 49ers' defense regresses after an incredible season, they'll need Garoppolo and the rest of the offense to pick up the slack one year after ranking seventh in DVOA.

Seattle Seahawks: Can they manufacture more of a pass rush?

There's no reason to question the Seahawks' quarterback. Russell Wilson is the best quarterback in the division and it's not particularly close. He's been playing at an MVP level for a while now. There's a reason why the Seahawks went 11-5 despite only outscoring their opponents by seven points over the course of the season: Wilson consistently engineered late-game magic to win close contests. Unless the Seahawks force him to hand the ball off three times in a row to begin every possession (not ruling that out), he'll remain very much a factor in the MVP race. 

The question the Seahawks need to answer concerns their defense. In the wake of the Quinton Dunbar arrest, it's fair to question their secondary, but the bigger question to me is about their pass rush, which was virtually nonexistent a season ago. In 2019, the Seahawks finished with 28 sacks -- only the Dolphins finished with fewer. Their leader in sacks? Rasheem Green with four. Long gone are the days of Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. 

The pass rush is obviously a big problem. Jadeveon Clowney remains unsigned. Getting him back would be a nice signing. It would also make a ton of sense for the Seahawks to sign a productive veteran like Everson Griffen. Otherwise, the Seahawks are relying on Bruce Irvin (back for a second stint) at the age of 32 after he registered a career-high 8.5 sacks with the Panthers a season ago. They're also counting on Jarran Reed to have a bounce back season after he followed up a 10.5-sack season in 2018 with a two-sack season in 2019 and L.J. Collier to justify his selection in the first round of the 2019 draft after failing to register a sack during his rookie season. 

As a whole, the Seahawks' defense ranked 18th in DVOA a season ago. It's not just the pass rush's fault. It's also about issues in the secondary. But it's clear the Seahawks need more of a pass rush in 2020 if they're going to avoid regression after a 2019 season that included way too many close games that bounced their way.