One victory from an opening-round bye in the playoffs for the first time since the end of the 2003 season, the Los Angeles Rams clinch their direct route to the divisional round with a victory over their longtime rival.
The San Francisco 49ers and Rams will meet today on the last weekend of the regular season, just like last year. This time, there will be something more than bragging rights at stake. When the 49ers and Rams met at the Los Angeles Coliseum a year ago, the Rams were headed to the playoffs and the 49ers were about to begin vacation.
That same scenario holds for today, but last year, the Rams’ fate in the wild-card round had been sealed and Los Angeles chose to rest its key players. The 49ers ended up winning the regular season finale and an out-of-sync Rams team lost in the following week at home against the Atlanta Falcons. Their season of emergence ended abruptly.
This year, it appears as if the Rams have already moved past their late-season funk. They lost consecutive games against the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, but rebounded in impressive fashion last weekend with a far better performance against the lowly Arizona Cardinals.
If there is anything the Rams might work on against the 49ers, it would be a gameplan to get their passing game off the ground. A passing attack wasn’t needed against the Cardinals as the Rams established a running game behind new arrival CJ Anderson, who gained 167 of the Rams’ 269 rushing yards.
A more pass-oriented Rams offense could be on display for at least portions of Sunday’s finale against San Francisco. “This is something that we can’t afford to take lightly,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said about the game against the 49ers.”It’s very important for us to come out ready to go.”
A victory today means the Rams will have made a clean sweep of their NFC West opponents, something the Rams have not done since the NFL was divided into four-team divisions in 2002. It has only happened four times in the NFC West since 2002.
The 49ers (4-11) might be near the bottom of the NFC, but they have shown promise of late behind quarterback Nick Mullens. Last weekend, against a smothering Chicago Bears defense, Mullens still managed to go 22-of-38 passing for 241 yards and had his team in the gale late against one of the NFC’s top teams.
Since taking over on Nov. 1, Mullens has orchestrated three of the 49ers’ four victories, with 10 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. Since Jimmy Garoppolo will get his job back when he returns from injury next season, though, is Sunday’s game one last chance for Mullens to audition for other teams around the league with the 49ers in place to trade him this offseason?
“I think backups are extremely valuable, not just at the quarterback position, but everywhere,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said, said. “Usually you have to win with backups and you hope to stay healthy all of the time, but very rarely does that happen. Backups can be the difference in a season.”
For the Rams, a backup in Anderson might have to be the difference Sunday with Todd Gurley (knee) sitting out for the second consecutive week. Safety Lamarcus Joyner (ankle) also will miss the game, while running back Justin Davis (shoulder) and defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks are questionable.