The San Francisco 49ers won't face Matthew Stafford in Week 18, but head coach Kyle Shanahan believes they may have to prepare to face the Los Angeles Rams quarterback in the NFC Divisional Round.

San Francisco rounds off its regular season against the Rams on Sunday, with both teams resting their starting quarterback in a game that is meaningless for the 49ers, who have secured the one seed in the NFC. The Rams could still drop to the seven seed, but can't improve on their current standing of the six seed.

Los Angeles has established itself as one of the most dangerous teams in the playoff field, winning six of its seven games since the bye to clinch a spot in the postseason that looked highly unlikely when the Rams dropped to 3-6 in Week 9. The Rams' only defeat in that span came in overtime, when a Baltimore Ravens team that crushed the Niners on Christmas Day needed a punt return touchdown to beat them.

And, when asked about the potential for preseason-type gameplans in a contest that will likely see any starters removed early, Shanahan dropped a major clue as to how he thinks the Rams' Wild Card game with either the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions or Philadelphia Eagles will go.

"There’s a good chance we’re playing this team in two weeks so I think both sides will be pretty vanilla on that," Shanahan said of the gameplan without starting quarterback Brock Purdy.

"I’ll be surprised if there’s too much stuff but we also know each other pretty well, both teams and the scheme, when we play each other I don’t think a lot goes into that anyways, but every game affects the next game so we’re going to be smart with how we do everything."

The Rams are clearly a team nobody wants to face in the playoffs right now, with Stafford fourth in Expected Points Added per play and passing Success Rate since Week 10, the Los Angeles quarterback excelling through a phenomenal connection with Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua and receiving substantial support from a running game revitalized by rookie Kyren Williams.

Stafford, of course, led the Rams to an NFC Championship Game victory over the 49ers in the 2021 season. 

Outside of that game, however, the 49ers have had the Rams' number, winning the last nine regular-season games between the two NFC West rivals. That streak will stretch to 10 games if Sam Darnold can claim victory over Carson Wentz in the battle of the backup quarterbacks.

Their head-to-head dominance of the rivalry should breed confidence in the 49ers getting the job done if they renew acquaintances with the Rams in the playoffs.

But the Niners are also well aware that the Rams are a different team to the one they beat 30-23 in Week 2.

Added Shanahan:

"We could see how good they could be in Week 2, any time that you have a quarterback like Stafford, who's as good as anyone that I've ever studied, any time you have that you always have a chance, he's always that guy but where they've improved is how much their run game's going, it's as good as any run game in this league, put those together with that type of quarterback, their defense started out with a lot of young guys but they've played all year, that's what we had to do in '17 and '18, and when you have a generational player out there with Aaron Donald, with what they're doing on the other side that gives them a chance to be just as dangerous as anyone in this league."

Shanahan's respect for the Rams and the strides they have made over the second half of the season is obvious. 

Despite the 49ers' superiority in the rivalry in recent seasons, his comments make it clear he and his team will be taking absolutely nothing for granted if Shanahan's prediction comes to fruition and the Rams are back at Levi's Stadium playing their starters in a few weeks' time.

Brock Purdy is set to get the recognition he deserves

He’s earned it.