Los Angeles Rams’ decision to gamble with their travel plans en route to Australia just cost them more than the game vs. 49ers
The Los Angeles Rams decided to roll the dice and get to Australia just hours before the game against the 49ers, as opposed to San Francisco, which had been there for a week, and there was clearly an advantage for one side.
The Los Angeles Rams flew 16 hours to Melbourne, Australia, arrived in a country 17 hours ahead, went to bed, woke up, and played a football game. The San Francisco 49ers then proceeded to deliver one of the most lopsided beatdowns that we will probably see this season, winning by a score of 27-7, a score that suggests the game was closer than it ever was. The Rams looked closer to contending for the 1st overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft than contending for a Super Bowl, and to make matters worse, starting linebacker Nate Landman left late in the game with a shoulder injury. So the gamble to leave just hours before the start of the game cost Los Angeles a win, respect from a divsion rival, and potentially, a starter.
This is not a Week 1 overreaction piece. The 49ers very well may have been the better team regardless of circumstances. But nobody in their right mind thought San Francisco was going to come out and put that kind of whooping on Los Angeles. The Rams couldn’t pass protect. Davante Adams looked like he was running through mud for half the game. Myles Garrett could not get anywhere close to the quarterback because Trent Williams had him in a body bag. And a 49ers interior offensive line that could probably use some help in the 2027 NFL Draft pushed back one of the best defensive lines in the NFL.
The travel is the crux of the problem
The bottom line is that whoever in the Rams’ facility, front office, or coaching staff thought it was smart to arrive on a 24-to-48-hour turnaround and immediately play a football game should never be allowed to make travel decisions again. The human body needs time to get acclimated, and what we saw Thursday night was the result of ignoring that basic reality.
The 49ers, despite the fact that they’re losing tight ends and wide receivers, despite their guys getting banged up, despite Christian McCaffrey getting blasted, looked like the fresher, healthier, faster, and just flat-out better football team. That tells you everything you need to know about how poorly the Rams handled the logistics of this trip.
Even Sean McVay’s decisions were questionable
I thought even some of the play calling from Sean McVay raised eyebrows, and McVay is obviously one of the best head coaches in the NFL. Why in the world are we having a quarterback with a tender back who’s nearly 40 years old attempt a tush push on the goal line? That said, I’m not going to put this on McVay unless it was his idea to fly these guys in on that kind of turnaround. The coaching wasn’t the root cause here.
What this performance actually looked like
That game alone, if you didn’t know anything about football, if you didn’t know anything about preseason expectations, and you watched that football game, you would have said the Rams were closer to picking first overall in 2027 than competing for a championship. That’s how bad of a performance it was, and it went from the top down.
Aaron Donald wasn’t out there Thursday night, and honestly, that’s probably a good thing given the way Los Angeles played as a football team.
Hopefully for the Rams, if they’re ever in this scenario again, they will have learned from this lesson. That was an abysmal performance, and the travel plan is where it starts and ends. The way I see it, the Rams torpedoed themselves before the game even kicked off.
