The 49ers and their fans felt great about the team’s season after a surprising Week 5 win over the Rams, but that optimism was all but destroyed during L.A.‘s 42-26 revenge win on Sunday. That should force the Niners to look in the mirror and reconcile with the shortcomings of their roster.
The Rams are 7-2 and can take the NFC West lead with a win over the Seattle Seahawks next week, while the 49ers are 6-4 and slowly losing ground.
These are reactions to the loss from the San Francisco perspective, which from the Rams side we can find comfort in:
“Severely out-coached”
49ers firebrand Grant Cohn took to X for an instant reaction to the game. He said “the irony of this loss is not that the 49ers were severely outplayed, but that they were severely out-coached”.
Cohn criticized the 49ers and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh for an inability to adjust to the Rams’ usage of heavy personnel and additional tight ends. The 49ers have holes at linebacker without Fred Warner and Los Angeles was able to force them into their base defense with great success.
49ers have structural issues
The 49ers look strong on paper, coming into this game with a 6-3 record; however, they were not a good 6-3 team. San Francisco’s actions at the trade deadline all but confirm this as they sat on the sidelines and opted to not push their chips to the middle of the table for a run in 2025.
Chase Senior reacted to the game and talked about how the 49ers do not have the personnel to pressure the quarterback. Offensively they are a one-trick pony and “wasted a really good Mac Jones performance”.
“Tired of this season already”
I took to the comment section on fellow SB Nation blog Niners Nation. User site decorum summed up the loss quite well:
“I’m tired of this season already. Our young guys get a pass for playing like crap and getting whupped up and down the field because they don’t have veteran superstars to hold their hands, but it would be malpractice to trade draft picks for immediate help because hypothetical future young guys are too important to what we’re trying to do? I just feel like we don’t make sense anymore and are just going through the motions of a meandering season.“
Rams crushed Niners optimism
Parker Hurley at Sports Illustrated also pointed out that the 49ers proved why they weren’t buyers at the trade deadline. He took a deeper dive into the roster and expressed concern that Ricky Pearsall and Brandon Aiyuk don’t seem slated to return anytime soon, although Brock Purdy could be under center as soon as next week.
If 49ers fans are looking for silver linings, they may need to dig pretty deep:
“The offense is supposed to get healthy at some point, but both of their big-name wide receivers are no closer to returning today than they were when their injuries initially came up. The 49ers could have lost some draft capital, and maybe lose a bit of a closer game when the playoffs come. However, this roster is too far from being legitimate contenders, and that was on display in Week 10.”
Where does rivalry go from here?
The Niners have the Cardinals, Panthers, Browns, and Titans on deck so they could rebound over the next month of games. San Francisco has been knocked out of the playoff picture, falling. behind the 6-3 Bears for the 7-seed, but they could rebound quickly with a schedule like that one. In fact, if the Rams don’t beat the Seahawks next week and the 49ers come out on top over the Cardinals, both teams will be back at 7 wins each and the 49ers will have a dominant 4-1 NFC West record compared to 1-2 for L.A..
So as good as the Rams should feel after out-coaching and out-playing their rivals in Week 10, the margin for error remains razor thin.
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