Welcome to the wobbly, wobbly West, where the only certainties coming out of Week 9 are the 7-1 Arizona Cardinals and 0-8 Oakland Raiders.

Otherwise it is complete chaos.

Everything we thought we knew about the dominant West divisions a month ago is left in shambles, a puzzle without enough fitting pieces.

In the AFC, Denver drives a winning ride into the bye week, but the Broncos (6-2) were severely dented by New England quarterback Tom Brady and well-designed defense in a 43-21 blowout at Foxboro.

When the game ended, Denver quarterback Peyton Manning made his way across the field to shake hands with defensive coordinator Matt Patricia before bolting to the locker room knowing the offense just made to look average will see a heavy dose of similar looks in the weeks ahead. The Broncos’ offensive line was overwhelmed and New England completely neutralized Julius Thomas.

It wasn’t just the Broncos who created doubt about which direction the compass is pointing for suspected West powers.

Former AFC West upstart San Diego flamed out in spectacular fashion in Miami, 37-0, exactly four weeks after moving to 4-1 with a shutout of the New York Jets after taking out defending Super Bowl champ Seattle. The Chargers plug into the bye week with a three-game losing streak, dropping the past two games by a combined score off 72-21.

Perhaps the most unsettling loss of Week 9 was in Santa Clara. The 49ers were fortunate that quarterback Colin Kaepernick was still standing on the game-ending drive. He absorbed eight sacks and fumbled twice, most memorably on the final play of the game when coach Jim Harbaugh played for the win — and lost 13-10 — forgetting somehow that St. Louis owned the line of scrimmage all game and that an extra-point distance field goal could have pushed the game to overtime.

Even Seattle, which beat Oakland 30-24, did little to ease the worry about a post-crown letdown as reports percolate of tumult and division within the walls of Camp Carroll.

Uncertainty abounds in each West division. The Broncos are more than capable of repairing damage they took on at New England, proven by doing just that in 2013 to reach the Super Bowl.

Confidence in the rest of the West? Wobbly.

Seattle might find a finishing kick, but at 5-3 and with two dates remaining with the 49ers as part of a brutal stretch schedule, the Seahawks are watching their greatest edge — home-field advantage — slip away with each Arizona victory.

The Cardinals, 7-1 for the first time since 1975, improbably knocked off the top two NFC East contenders in consecutive weeks and go home for a three-game stretch that might just secure Arizona’s standing as the best in the West. Or, at the rate things are unraveling, the Cardinals could easily lose two of three to St. Louis, Detroit and Seattle to join a cluster pile in the standings that might not be separated until snow flies.

Four weeks can change the story for any of these teams and six weeks is a lifetime around these parts.

Raise your hand if the Pittsburgh Steelers were your pick to win anything last month, when Ben Roethlisberger produced a measly 10 points in a loss to the Cleveland Browns. And if you raised your hand, surely you also had grizzled outside linebacker James Harrison coming out of retirement for back-to-back multiple-sack games, too.

And remember, won’t you, the Patriots leaving Kansas City six weeks ago, sullen and despondent to be welcomed back to New England with headlines pointing to Brady’s demise, pondering coach Bill Belichick’s mortality volunteering a rookie to replace the greatest player in franchise history?

Well, the Patriots are the only seven-win team in the AFC and Brady, who beat Manning for the 11th time in 16 meetings, is preparing for the possibility that their next meeting in late January will be at Gillette Stadium for the right to head West to Arizona for Super Bowl XLIX.

What we learned in Week 9

Steelers 43, Ravens 23

Every team in the AFC North has a winning record — yes, even Cleveland — but the Steelers are stepping up as the class of the division. Old defense? Ragged Roethlisberger? Those were September storylines.

Roethlisberger threw six TD passes for the second consecutive game and wide receiver Antonio Brown made boss Mike Tomlin’s sagacious statement last week hold up. Tomlin said Brown was at a “J.J. Watt level” because teams plan for him but “can’t stop the storm” and the receiver caught 11 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown, becoming the second player in NFL history to start a season with nine straight games of at least five receptions and 80 yards. Hall of Famer Michael Irvin had a similar streak in 1995 with the Dallas Cowboys.

Brown caught a 54-yard touchdown pass in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to give the Steelers a 29-10 lead.

Rams 13, 49ers 10

Coach Jim Harbaugh and Colin Kaepernick are putting together quite the reel of near-misses at the goal line. Harbaugh showed cajones in bypassing a field goal to send the game to overtime, but in a game dominated by the Rams’ front seven, Kaepernick fumbled on the final play — one Rams defensive coordinator predicted was coming, adjusting his defense accordingly — and the 49ers are nearing panic mode in November with the Cardinals threating to run away with the NFC West.

“All it takes is a snowflake to start an avalanche,” said Rams defensive end Robert Quinn, who forced a fumble and had two of the Rams’ eight sacks of Kaepernick. “You see that the sacks are picking up and guys are selling out. Hopefully it doesn’t stop here.”

Facing third-and-goal from the Rams’ 1 with nine seconds left to play, Kaepernick kept the ball on a quarterback sneak, but he fumbled, and Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis recovered in the end zone.

Patriots 43, Broncos 21

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, New England’s prolific pitch-and-catch combination, played the parts of All-Pro protagonists before the Gillette Stadium crowd to stifle Peyton Manning and the Broncos yet again and hit the bye week with a five-game winning streak. The positives were many for New England, including the play of a maligned defense that pushed all the right buttons Sunday.

The same isn’t true of the Broncos. Denver anticipated it could run the ball against any team determined to bracket receiver Demaryius Thomas and/or Julius Thomas, but the Patriots clogged inside lines and contained running back Ronnie Hillman early, and the Broncos went away from the ground attack. Manning said he doesn’t “usually suck” but said he felt he did Sunday.

“We got to be better on the road. What are we, 1-2 on the road? … Got to play better on the road,” he said.

A focal point in the buildup to Oakland this week will be protecting interior gaps. The Patriots feasted on the Broncos from guard to guard and Hillman missed at least two key delayed blitz pickups.

Seahawks 30, Raiders 24

Seattle went back to feeding Beast Mode, but needed to survive a stormy third quarter to beat the winless Raiders (0-8). Injuries hampered the Seahawks, but for much of the game quarterback Russell Wilson looked antsy and his accuracy was not there.

Running back Marshawn Lynch’s two touchdowns helped the Seahawks storm out to a 24-3 halftime lead, but a blocked punt and long punt return helped the Raiders pull within a touchdown, at 24-17, in the third quarter.

The Seahawks might be polishing a gem in Bruce Irvin, who had a big game last week and had a 35-yard highlight reel interception return in Sunday’s win.

Eagles 31, Texans 21

We are about to find out who wins the Battle of the Backups in the NFC East. While the Cowboys are pushing for Tony Romo’s return this week in London, there will be no Nick Foles sightings in for at least the rest of this month. The Eagles’ No. 1 quarterback, whose play made Michael Vick expendable, was lost to a broken clavicle and the offense is in the hands of Mark Sanchez. He completed 80 percent of his passes in preseason and looks comfortable in Chip Kelly’s offense.

Sanchez, who last played for the Jets on Dec. 30, 2012, passed for 202 yards and two scores as the Eagles (6-2) amassed 483 yards and 30 first downs.

“It’s been awhile,” Sanchez said. “It all comes back quickly. You don’t want to use the phrase ‘like riding a bike’ but I wish it was that easy and that defense didn’t make it that easy. It just felt good to get back out there, to make some calls, to scramble a little bit, to get hit a little bit — all that stuff was fun. We’re very fortunate to play like this.”

More concerning for the Eagles might be the subtraction of defensive captain DeMeco Ryans to a torn Achilles.

Ryans played six seasons for the Texans, with whom he sustained an Achilles tear in 2010. He led the Eagles with 39 tackles coming into Sunday. Players from both teams came on the field when Ryans was injured.

“It just shows the respect that everybody has for him,” Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin, a former Texan, said of the gesture. “Obviously, the guy is a leader. He was the team captain when he played (in Houston) for six years.”

Vikings 29, Redskins 26

Teddy Bridgewater delivered when it mattered, and the Vikings have three straight wins for first-year coach Mike Zimmer.

The rookie showed some pluck, especially in the fourth quarter, leading the Vikings back from a pair of deficits. Bridgewater looked like a veteran on Minnesota’s winning drive, completing 5 of 7 passes on the drive and converting a third-and-10 with a 21-yard pass to Jarius Wright and a third and five with a six-yarder to Greg Jennings. Bridgewater said afterward it’s all about finishing.

“I thought our team grew up a lot today,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “They could have folded their tents early, we fell behind 10-0, but they kept fighting and fighting.”

Redskins coach Jay Gruden spoke in critical terms about Washington’s defense just six days removed from crediting coordinator Jim Haslett with his blitz-heavy plan in a win over the Dallas Cowboys. Washington is trying to hold up with rookies and role players, and inconsistency should be expected.

Bengals 33, Jaguars 23

The return of wide receiver A.J. Green was welcomed — he caught a touchdown in his first game in a month — but rookie running back Jeremy Hill gets the game ball.

With starter Giovani Bernard (hip) out, Hill rushed for 154 yards and scored two touchdowns, including a 60-yard dagger in the fourth quarter, lifting the Bengals to a 33-23 victory over Jacksonville to extend their regular-season home unbeaten streak to 14 games at Paul Brown Stadium.

“I think he gives us a great explosiveness,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said of Hill. “He can be a load to tackle. Basically he was untouched (on the 60-yarder).”

Cardinals 28, Cowboys 17

Arizona is unflinching and coach Bruce Arians said the team will be as healthy as it has been all season in the next two weeks. Down 10-zip in the first quarter, quarterback Carson Palmer stayed the course and the Cardinals never looked panicked.

“The confidence in this locker room is through the roof,” said cornerback Patrick Peterson, who held Dez Bryant without a catch until the final drive of the game, when the outcome was decided. “We spotted them 10 points, but we didn’t blink. We stayed focused. If we keep doing this, it’s a very promising season for us.”

As much as the Cowboys’ identity rests in a solid offensive line and running game featuring DeMarco Murray, it’s clear after five quarters without Romo that he is much more than the overpaid bus driver.

Backup quarterback Brandon Weeden struggled in his first start, and the offense didn’t move the ball with any consistency. The ‘Boys need Romo back. Not until the final drive of the game did Weeden complete a pass to an outside receiver — Terrance Williams caught the first pass of the drive and Bryant the last two for 15 yards including a 3-yard score.

Chiefs 24, Jets 10

Percy Harvin had a breakthrough game and the Jets finally found the right plays for running back Chris Johnson with Michael Vick at the controls.

If they want to have a chance to win games, they need to get Chris Johnson and Percy Harvin offensively involved quicker than they showed against Kansas City. Johnson did not touch the ball until 11 minutes were left to play in the second quarter. His carry went for 21 yards and he finished with 69 yards on 11 carries. Harvin didn’t see the ball until the Jets’ second possession. Overall, Johnson and Harvin combined for 238 of New York’s 364 yards.

The Chiefs’ defense continues to be the engine powering the team to five victories in their last six games. At the mid-point of their schedule, Kansas City has not given up a rushing touchdown. They rank among the league leaders with 27 sacks and have limited the number of big plays they’ve allowed over eight games. With safety Eric Berry back on the field after missing five games due to a sprained ankle, the Chiefs’ defense is getting healthier and more productive.

Browns 22, Buccaneers 17

For the first time in seven years the Cleveland Browns will be playing meaningful games in the second half of the season.

Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer showed again he knows how to improvise. Hoyer threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Taylor Gabriel with 8:59 left in the fourth quarter to set up a showdown with the Bengals.

“It’s been a long time since the Browns were 5-3 and I like where we are,” said Browns left tackle Joe Thomas, who was a rookie in 2007 the last time it happened. “We’re closing out close games at the end. Since I’ve been here the close games have gone in the other team’s direction.”

Dolphins 37, Chargers 0

Philip Rivers was dominated by the Dolphins’ defense, who might be ready to step up and receive some due attention.

The Dolphins (5-3) won their third straight game and moved into a tie for second place with the idle Buffalo Bills in the AFC East.

It was the Dolphins’ biggest margin of victory since Sept. 3, 1993 when they beat the New York Jets 52-14. It was Miami’s first shutout since Dec. 10, 2006 when they beat the New England Patriots 21-0.

Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill outplayed Rivers — and it wasn’t close. Tannehill completed 24 of 34 passes for 288 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Tannehill’s passer rating of 125.6 represents a career high.

“We finally put a full game together,” Tannehill said.

— Some quotes and contributions are from Sports Xchange correspondents covering each game.