The 49ers answered the travel question in the loudest way possible.
After opening the season with a dominant win over the Rams in Australia, San Francisco came home to Levi’s Stadium and turned Week 2 into another rout, blasting the Miami Dolphins 35-13. The game was basically over by the third quarter, and by then Kyle Shanahan had already reached the point where his starters could sit back and watch the rest of the afternoon unfold.
That mattered because the concern wasn’t really about Miami so much as the circumstances. San Francisco had made the long trip to Australia a week earlier, and there was plenty of chatter about whether the return home would leave the team dragging in its next game. If there was any hangover, it never showed.
The 49ers scored on their first five possessions, something the franchise had not done in 40 years. Shanahan’s first two drives were deliberate and methodical, chewing up time before the offense uncorked 21 points in the third quarter and blew the game open.
There were a few rough edges - the run defense had some shaky moments - but there was no sign of a team that looked heavy-legged or mentally stuck in another time zone. That was the real test here, and San Francisco passed it cleanly.
“I don't look at it as a two-week package,” Shanahan told the media postgame, via NBC Sports Bay Area's Tristi Rodriguez. “Everything's so week to week.
So I was real proud of us after the first game, and now real proud of us after this game. We'll enjoy our weekend and night, and then get back in and get ready for Week 3 tomorrow.
“We knew that it would be a challenge, but getting the days off, and by the time everyone came to work, we were over the travel stuff.”
The result also shifted the spotlight onto the Rams, who handled their Australia trip differently by leaving less than two days before kickoff and treating it like a Pacific Time game. That approach didn’t pay off in Week 1, and now they’ll be under the microscope again in Week 2 when they host the 1-0 New York Giants on Monday Night Football.
If Los Angeles looks flat again, the questions about that travel plan will only get louder. Even a win might not fully quiet them if it comes without much conviction.
For the 49ers, though, the issue is settled. They took the trip, came back home, and wiped away any idea that the long journey would spill into the next week. Now it’s on the Rams to show whether that same burden follows them too.
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