Kyle Shanahan may be in Australia for the 49ers’ Week 1 opener, but he still sounds like he’s thinking about SoFi Stadium.
Speaking with reporters Sunday in Melbourne, the San Francisco coach made it clear why the international setting bothered him in the first place: even with the Los Angeles Rams listed as the home team, he views it as the 49ers surrendering one of their own road advantages.
“It's cool for us, just we always have an advantage of having one, I see it as one home game a year in L.A.," Shanahan said. "Just the way our fans are and take over that stadium.
So, it was disappointing to let them off the hook and get them out of that. But, I have a feeling knowing how our fans roll, I have a feeling they won't be much different here.
I expect to have a good showing. I wouldn't say it hit me right on the plane, but after being here for a couple days, this is the right time to be here, it's the right place to be and it's the right team to go against.”
That wasn’t just a throwaway line. Shanahan has seen the 49ers’ fan base turn Rams home games into something closer to neutral-site contests, and he pointed to the way San Francisco supporters have regularly overwhelmed SoFi Stadium. The Rams offense has even had to use a silent count at home.
Since Shanahan arrived in 2017, the 49ers are 7-2 in nine regular season games against the Rams at SoFi Stadium. That includes last year’s wild 26-23 overtime win, a game San Francisco pulled out without Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Nick Bosa and Ricky Pearsall.
Shanahan also stressed several times that every game matters over an 18-week season, which is part of why he sounded uneasy about the competitive effect of moving a matchup to another continent.
Still, this one may not feel like much of a home game for the Rams once the 49ers fans show up. Melbourne Cricket Ground should have plenty of red on Thursday evening, and Shanahan’s own expectations seem to line up with that.
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