NFL.com experts nearly split on who wins NFC West after first half of the season

The most interesting aspect of the Arizona Cardinals second half of the season, since they are 8-1 and slightly over the halfway point, is going to be where they end up in the NFC playoffs.

NFL.com had their panel of experts vote on who wins each division and the wild card teams, and it was a little closer than expected, especially after this last weekend.

From NFL.com:

1, Arizona Cardinals (-230) (15 votes: Battista, Bhanpuri, Blair, Carr, Cersosimo, Chadiha, Frelund, Hanzus, Parr, Patra, Ross, Sessler, Shook, Thomas, Trotter)

2. Los Angeles Rams (+195) | 13 votes: Baldinger, Bergman, Brandt, Filice, Goodbread, Grant, Hall, Jones-Drew, Rank, Reuter, Rosenthal, Smith, Zierlein

Why Marc Ross chose the Cardinals: This is not the same old Cardinals, who this year have shown toughness to win in a variety of ways and under less than ideal circumstances. With Kyler Murray playing at an MVP level when healthy, and Vance Joseph transforming the defense into one of the league’s best, the Cards are poised to win the division and possibly much more.

So, it is nearly split and I wonder where this would have fallen if the Cardinals had lost like most of these experts expected them too on Sunday?

When teams talk about being the underdog this is where they draw that focus from, because you have a large swath, nearly 50% that still don’t buy-in to what this team has done.

The NFC winners: Arizona (15 votes) Tampa Bay (27 votes) Green Bay Packers (unanimous) Dallas Cowboys (unanimous)