Seahawks open season with big win, 49ers might as well pack it up

The Seattle Seahawks put together a very solid effort on Thursday, beating the Green Bay Packers 36-16. The Seahawks were a bit slow out of the gate on defense, but they locked it down in the second half, and cruised to victory. They benefited from a Packers squad that could not get out of its own way at times, but that should not take too much away from what was still an impressive win for the Seahawks.

Of course, while it was only one win to open the season, reactions across the Internet would make us think the Seahawks locked up another Lombardi trophy. I saw it in some of the comments here and on Twitter. And now, we're starting to see it show up financially. Our friends at Odds Shark posted updated their various odds, and the Seahawks have quickly emerged as a heavy favorite to win the NFC West. Here is a quick rundown of their NFC West changes:

Seattle Seahawks Odds to Win NFC West -200 (was +125)
San Francisco 49ers Odds to Win NFC West +250 (was +150)
Arizona Cardinals Odds to Win NFC West +750 (was +700)
St. Louis Rams Odds to Win NFC West +2000 (was +700 before Bradford injury)

The Seahawks are officially an overwhelming favorite to win the NFC West. The 49ers might as well pack their bags, and get ready for the Pro Bowl!

There is no argument that the Seahawks are not a good team. I think we all can agree on that. And their performance against the Packers was impressive. Sure, the Packers defense is not as good as the 49ers, but after the first quarter, they did a great job shutting down what should be a prolific Packers passing attack. The Packers decided not to throw at Richard Sherman, and while that kept Sherman from making a big play, it also limited the Packers options. They had early success against Byron Maxwell, but that eventually quieted down a bit. Sherman can be dangerous, but he can also be beat. Check out Dylan MacNamara's timeline to see some examples. Obviously it is easy to just post those examples, but it shows he can be beat.

With all this in mind, it is not surprising that people have reacted the way they have. We're in an instant gratification type of era, so people are going to react to what they see. If the Saints have their way with the Falcons on Sunday, I would not be surprised to see people talking about the Seahawks and Saints as the teams to beat. If the 49ers handle their business against Dallas, a strong offensive performance will probably be glazed over, while a strong defensive performance would actually draw some deserving praise. I don't expect their divisional odds to change very much based on a big game against Dallas, but who knows how the money might come in.