The first NFL game in Australia was supposed to feel like a spectacle, and it did. The buildup had the energy of a playoff night, maybe even something bigger, with the Jonas Brothers on halftime duty for crying out loud. But when the game got rolling, the Los Angeles Rams handled it like something far less urgent.
They arrived in Australia just a day before kickoff, while the San Francisco 49ers got there earlier so they could adjust to the change in country. And when the Rams trailed in the fourth quarter, their body language told the rest of the story.
They didn’t use their timeouts to try to stop the clock, and late in the fourth, they pulled quarterback Matthew Stafford. It looked, plainly, like a team that wanted no part of the moment.
That’s especially notable because the Rams were technically the home team and, before the season, wanted this matchup so they wouldn’t have to deal with a sea of red and gold swallowing up SoFi Stadium. Instead, there were plenty of 49ers fans in Melbourne, including our own Jeremy Wolfhart, and they were loud all game long.
For San Francisco, the result matters in a big way. At minimum, the 49ers now have a split in the season series with Los Angeles, and there’s a real chance they can win both meetings if they’re still in decent shape when the teams meet again in December.
The bigger picture is hard to miss. Every game the 49ers play against the Rams and Seattle Seahawks this season is going to carry a playoff feel. The NFC West was a knife fight last year, and there’s no reason to expect anything different this time around.
The Rams will have the travel angle ready-made if anyone wants to defend what happened. Plenty of people were already ready to anoint them NFC champions before the season even started, and now their backers can point to Australia and say the league put them in a bad spot.
But the story on the field is what counts. The 49ers are 1-0, they looked sharp on both sides of the ball, and they get to bring that momentum back to Santa Clara for Week 2. The Rams, meanwhile, were punched in the mouth and now have to prove the preseason hype was real, not just a mirage.
In Other News...
Brock Purdy Hit Could Bring NFL Fallout After 49ers Opener
Brock Purdys season-opening performance in Melbourne was memorable for more than just the box score, because one of the biggest moments came when the 49ers quarterback took a hit from Rams defensive tackle Tyler Davis that drew a roughing-the-passer flag. Purdy finished the game 25 of 34 for 205 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, but the contact he absorbed is the kind of play that tends to linger after the final whistle once the league reviews it.
The NFLs guidelines leave room for fines on penalties like that, and there is already speculation that the collision may have crossed into helmet-to-helmet territory, which could bring added discipline. For San Francisco, the immediate concern is the health of its quarterback and the protection he gets going forward, while the larger issue is whether the league decides the hit in Melbourne was simply a penalty on the field or something more costly when the office in New York takes a closer look. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Hit On Brock Purdy Could Bring NFL Punishment
Brock Purdy still delivered a productive outing in Melbourne, but one of the biggest moments in the 49ers game came on a hit from Rams defensive tackle Tyler Davis that drew a roughing-the-passer flag and raised the possibility of a helmet-to-helmet call. The play stood out not just because of the contact itself, but because it landed on a San Francisco quarterback who kept the offense moving anyway, finishing 25 of 34 for 205 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
For the NFL, the question now is whether the play turns into more than a penalty on the field. League discipline can follow this kind of hit if officials and review determine it crossed the line, though it remains to be seen whether fines will actually come down. For the 49ers, the larger concern is the same one every team has in moments like this: protecting Purdy while keeping him upright enough to do what he did in Melbourne. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Bosa's 49ers Return Took A Strange Turn After The Rams Win
Nick Bosas return in the 49ers season opener against the Rams was one of the biggest on-field positives of the night. Coming back from a torn ACL, he made his presence felt with four tackles, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit, a reminder of how much San Francisco missed him when he was out. For a player whose impact is usually measured in pressure and disruption, simply getting through that first game healthy mattered as much as the stat line.
The strange part came afterward, when a social media post began circulating with a quote falsely attributed to Bosa about honoring Charlie Kirk, a statement he never made. It was the latest example of how quickly fake quotes can spread around NFL players, following similar fabrications that have previously targeted George Kittle and C.J. Stroud. For the 49ers, it turned a straightforward comeback story into an unnecessary off-field distraction. [Read more 🡒]