After firing coach Scott Linehan, the Rams are on a roll, beating the 5-2 Washington Redskins and Super Bowl-favorite Dallas Cowboys while securing the No. 2 spot in the depleted NFC West.

The San Francisco 49ers looked to inspire a similar change Monday when they fired their coach, Mike Nolan, after a 29-17 loss to the New York Giants.

Nolan never had a winning season as the 49ers head coach while his team finished last in total offense in two of his three-and-a-half years in San Francisco. His .327 winning percentage as the ‘Niners coach is also the worst for any 49ers coach who was with the team for longer than a year.

Nolan, well-known for wearing a suit on the sideline, started coaching for the 49ers the year after the team finished 2-14 for dead last in the NFL.

He had a mountain of work ahead of him, as his first coaching task was to return a once-touted franchise to its former glory. He came close in 2006 when the team finished 7-9, but that was the best he could muster when the ‘Niners finished 5-11 the next season and have started this year 2-5.

While his firing was a good decision on the part of San Francisco, it was poorly handled. The ‘Niners organization did not give Nolan ample warning that he was going to be fired.

While he likely knew his job was in jeopardy, Nolan appeared to have no idea he was going to be fired when he gave his usual press conference Monday.

They also didn’t communicate the decision well to the rest of the franchise. Most of the 49ers players found out about the firing through the news.

When a major change, like a coach’s firing, is going to be made, the news should be broken to the team by the organization, not the media.

The communication of the decision to fire Nolan and the sudden impact of it were mishandled by the front office.

One team that is not mishandling much this season is the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona is now the No. 1 team in the NFC West.

If the 4-2 Cardinals can maintain their division lead, they will win the NFC west for the first time in franchise history.

While the Cardinals have some success, the 1-5 Hawks are acting like Arizona of old, cementing their place at the bottom of the NFC West with a big loss this weekend to Tampa Bay (20-10).

With Matt Hasselbeck possibly out for the season, it seems as though the entire Seahawks passing attack — ranked eighth in the NFL last year — is on the DL. This year they are dead last, earning only 126.8 yards per game.

The Hawks’ defense isn’t stepping up either. Seattle’s defense, which showed flashes of brilliance last year with the 12th best-run defense, can’t seem to stop anyone this season.

The defense gives up too many big third-down conversions and too many big plays. Sadly, it seems that Mike Holmgren’s last season as a Seahawk is shaping up to be one of his worst, but in an NFC West where the second place team is 2-4, anything can happen.

Reach columnist Zach Ruby at sports@dailyuw.com.