The Rams Didn’t Lose to Jet Lag. They Lost to the 49ers.

By Jason Burrell | South Bay Black Journal

Everybody wants to talk about the flight.

I want to talk about the football.

Yes, the San Francisco 49ers arrived in Australia earlier than the Los Angeles Rams. Yes, they had more time to acclimate. Yes, several 49ers players said afterward that arriving early helped them settle into Melbourne.

All of that can be true.

But somebody still had to line up and play.

And for three-plus hours at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the 49ers played better football than the Rams.

They were more physical. They were better prepared. They executed better. And when the game finally reached that place where football stops being about schemes, stars, and salaries and becomes a test of who is willing to move another grown man against his will, San Francisco won that battle, too.

The final score was 27-7. San Francisco rushed for 174 yards, held Los Angeles to 2-of-9 on third down, and scored the final 24 points after the Rams briefly led 7-3.

That isn’t jet lag.

That’s getting beat.

Sean McVay essentially said the same thing afterward.

“I make no excuses,” McVay said. “They outplayed us in every phase.”

Matthew Stafford didn’t blame the travel either.

Neither did Myles Garrett.

And that matters because sometimes sports coverage becomes so consumed with explaining why the favorite lost that we forget to give the winner their dignity.

San Francisco earned this one!

Kyle Shanahan might have provided the fairest explanation of the entire travel debate when he said he liked how his team prepared, but more importantly, he liked how they played.

Preparation can give you an advantage.

Preparation cannot block Myles Garrett.

Jet lag cannot stop Matthew Stafford from crossing the 1-yard line. 

Preparation cannot make Brock Purdy escape pressure and extend drives.

Preparation cannot force the Rams’ receivers to struggle finding separation.

Eventually somebody has to play football.

And San Francisco did!

Football Will Humble Everybody

There may not have been a better example than Trent Williams against Garrett.

Here were two elite football players lining up across from one another, one of the greatest left tackles of his generation against one of the most dominant edge defenders of his.

Garrett finished without a tackle, sack, or quarterback hit. It was the first time since Week 11 of the 2024 season that he failed to record a tackle. He was also dealing with a knee issue that had bothered him during training camp, something that has to be acknowledged when evaluating the matchup.

Trent Williams deserves his flowers.

The 49ers paid the right man.

And Williams imposed his will and reminded everybody why.

Garrett didn’t hide afterward.

“This was the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there,” he said.

That’s a 6’4, 272-pound grown man being vulnerable about his play, but there is something beautiful about it.

Football is a humbling game.

It can make one of the greatest football players walking the earth go home, turn on the film, and say, I have to get better.

There is no shame in that.

This is a grown man’s game.

And Williams did not need to pound his chest afterward either. When told that Garrett had finished without a tackle or sack, Williams didn’t turn the moment into a victory speech. He acknowledged how difficult Garrett remains to block.

That is football at its best! Game recognize Game!

One great player gets the best of another great player.

The One Yard That Told the Story

If I had to choose one sequence that explained this game, it wouldn’t be the flight.

It would be the 1-yard line.

The Rams were still alive.

They moved the football down the field and were standing inches away from changing the complexion of the game.

They couldn’t get in.

San Francisco stopped Stafford on fourth down inside the 1.

Then the 49ers turned around and drove 99 yards.

Purdy eventually found Deebo Samuel for the touchdown that pushed the lead to 24-7, and there goes the momentum, and that was the game.

Not because the scoreboard said so.

Because of what those two possessions revealed.

One team needed a yard and couldn’t take it.

The other team needed almost an entire football field and took it all.

49ers Captain and Linebacker, Fred Warner described that play in one word: “Fight!”

Shanahan said San Francisco’s message throughout the week was that it wanted to be the team that wanted it more, and that’s exactly what I thought I was watching.

The 49ers took the Rams’ will. I’m not saying the Rams quit. There’s a difference.

I’m talking about those moments in football when two teams know exactly what is coming. Everybody in the stadium knows what is coming. There is nowhere left to hide the call behind motion, analytics, formations, or coaching genius.

Move me; Or I move you! And San Francisco imposed their will and moved the Rams right out of Melbourne.

Give Shanahan and His Staff Credit

The Rams’ pass rush came into this season looking terrifying on paper.

Garrett. Byron Young. And eventually, perhaps, Aaron Donald.

But Shanahan and the 49ers didn’t look interested in admiring the names, and like his father before him, Kyle Shanahan had a plan.

George Kittle talked afterward about the offensive line, tight ends, backs, and receivers helping chip Los Angeles’ edge rushers.

Shanahan talked about mixing protections, getting the football out quickly, and allowing Purdy to hold it when the opportunities presented themselves.

The 49ers rushed for 174 yards and repeatedly kept Los Angeles from dictating the game with its pass rush.

That’s coaching.

Relationships Matter

Former Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is now running San Francisco’s defense. Morris coordinated Los Angeles’ defense from 2021 through 2023 and was part of the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI championship staff.

These organizations know one another.

These coaches know one another.

These players know one another.

Former Rams receiver Demarcus Robinson is now wearing red and gold, and he caught a 39-yard touchdown from Purdy against his former team. Robinson spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons with Los Angeles before joining San Francisco.

There weren’t many secrets in Melbourne.

That’s another reason I’m reluctant to reduce this game to travel; this was going to be a fistfight if they played it in Melbourne, Inglewood, Santa Clara, or somebody’s backyard.

San Francisco simply landed more punches.

There Are Questions the Rams Need to Answer

It’s Week 1.

Nobody needs to burn the building down.

The Rams are 0-1, not 0-17.

Stafford threw only one interception Thursday. For perspective, he threw just eight during the entire 2025 regular season while passing for 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns.

To Rams fans, he’ll be fine.

But the passing game lacked rhythm, and the Rams struggled to create consistent separation.

That’s what caught my attention.

Puka Nacua remains one of the league’s best receivers. Davante Adams remains one of the best route runners of his generation.

But speed and quickness are not the same thing.

Adams has built a brilliant career through releases, leverage, footwork, route detail, body control, and an extraordinary understanding of defenders. He sees the game like a quarterback.

You don’t need a stopwatch to get open.

But explosive speed can change the math on the field.

It forces safeties to back up.

It makes corners respect what can happen over their heads.

And it creates room underneath for everybody else.

I still wonder whether this Rams receiving corps has enough of that kind of physical, vertical threat to force defenses to defend every blade of grass.

San Francisco looked comfortable squeezing the Rams and being physical with their receivers and Tight Ends.

That’s something to keep watching throughout the season. 

The defense deserves scrutiny, too.

This concern didn’t begin in Australia.

The Carolina Panthers scored 31 points against the Rams in last season’s wild-card game and actually took a late lead before Stafford rescued Los Angeles with a game-winning touchdown drive. The Rams later surrendered 31 again in the NFC Championship Game against Seattle.

That’s part of why Les Snead spent the offseason addressing the defense.

The Rams added Garrett. They added Trent McDuffie. They tried to attack weaknesses instead of pretending they didn’t exist.

Now Chris Shula and this defensive staff have to turn those pieces into a defense that can get off the field.

Against San Francisco, they couldn’t do it consistently.

And Now Comes the Hard Part

San Francisco deserves to enjoy this.

They were better. Period!

I wouldn’t start engraving anything yet, unlike some of my colleagues with the Rams. Now I do have the Rams back in the NFC Championship Game this season!

The question surrounding the 49ers hasn’t been whether they’re talented enough to beat good football teams.

We’ve seen that.

The question is whether they can remain healthy enough through four months of NFL attrition to still look like this when January arrives.

Football is reminding everybody how quickly circumstances can change.

That’s why Week 1 shouldn’t become a referendum on anybody’s season.

The Rams will go home.

Garrett will get healthier.

Stafford will study the tape.

McVay will adjust.

The 49ers will move forward knowing the rest of the league now has film on what they did, too. That’s football.

You don’t get to live forever on yesterday’s victory or yesterday’s embarrassment.

McVay kept using one word after the game:

Humbling.

He called it a humbling day.

He said sports can humble you.

He’s right.

But humility isn’t humiliation.

In the NFL, humility is information.

It tells you where you aren’t as good as you thought you were.

It shows you what needs work.

And if you are willing to listen, it can make you better, and that’s why I have confidence in McVay!

The Rams don’t need an excuse for Melbourne.

They need the film.

Because the flight didn’t beat them.

The 49ers did.