The Talking Heads posed the question “Well, how did I get here?” in the 1980 song “Once In A Lifetime.”

It’s applicable to anyone, of course, with football fans and their respective favorite teams being no exception. Football Insiders is taking a division-by-division look at the turning point in each franchise’s recent history that can answer that very question.

Our series concludes with what has become perhaps the most competitive division in football over the past two seasons — the NFC West.

Seattle Seahawks
Turning Point: Starting Russell Wilson

In 2012, Pete Carroll made a decision that most coaches wouldn’t have the guts to. (This habit backfired in the most recent Super Bowl, but let’s ignore that for a minute.)

The Seahawks plunked major money for a free-agent quarterback, Matt Flynn, who they felt would bring the team to the next level after they snuck into the 2011 playoffs by winning the West with a 7-9 record.

But that $20.5-million deal did not sway Carroll from going with an undersized third-round pick, Wilson, as his starter coming out of the preseason. After some early struggles, Wilson made Carroll look like a genius in short order.

He finished fourth in the NFL in passer rating his rookie season and guided Seattle to a Wild Card win at Washington before leading the Seahawks on a madcap fourth-quarter rally that ultimately wasn’t enough in a 30-28 loss at Atlanta.

The Seahawks have been in both Super Bowls since, finishing just a yard shy of back-to-back titles. Not a bad start to a career.

San Francisco 49ers
Turning Point: Firing Jim Harbaugh

The phrase “going to Hell in a handbasket” seems like an apt description of the Niners’ offseason.

The front office ran off the coach who led the team’s revival, Jim Harbaugh. Many key pieces followed, whether via free agency or abrupt retirements.

Yes, this is the only occasion on which we’ve named a franchise’s turning point before anything on the field actually turned. But a quick look at the roster and leadership in San Francisco would seem to indicate a return to the Mike Nolan Era is not far behind.

Unless the Niners have a tremendous offseason in 2016, 49ers fans will spend a long time rueing the decision to dismiss Harbaugh, no matter how grating his personality may be to some within the organization.

Arizona Cardinals
Turning Point: Hiring Bruce Arians

Bruce Arians is The Man. The Kangol-hat wearing, absolute Boss of Bosses. We could go on forever. And we’d still be understating our case.

If you had to make a list of the sorriest franchises in all of professional sports, the Cardinals would be as close to the bottom as their baseball namesake is to the top. But you’d never know it watching a Bruce Arians-coached team.

Arians has gone 21-11 in his two seasons in the desert in an absolute wringer of a division. The last time the Cards won double-digit games in consecutive seasons? A three-year stretch from 1974-76 in St. Louis when should-be Hall of Famer Don Coryell was the coach.

The Cardinals were the first team to hire football lifer Arians as a head coach since Temple in 1983. It may be the best decision they’ve ever made.

St. Louis Rams
Turning Point: Steve Smith from Jake Delhomme

Before the Patriots took over the earth, it was the Rams who were the envy of the NFL. St. Louis made two Super Bowl appearances in three years, and after a brief hiccup in 2002 they seemed poised for another potential visit when they took the No. 2 seed into the 2003 NFC playoffs.

The Rams hosted underdog Carolina in the divisional round, and a classic ensued. Seemingly on the ropes in the fourth quarter, St. Louis rallied for 11 points in the final 2:39 to send the game to overtime.

One was not enough.

But on the first play of double overtime, Jake Delhomme hit Steve Smith for a 69-yard bomb that ripped the Rams’ hearts out and sent Carolina the the NFC title game.

The Rams stumbled into the postseason the next year at 8-8. They managed a road win at Seattle in the Wild Card round, but the Greatest Show on Turf was dead. Atlanta pounded them 47-17 in the divisional round and St. Louis hasn’t reached the playoffs since.