Opinion. What Dream Team? Rams were embarrassed, humbled, skewered and jet-lagged in a flat debut
Let the debate roll on as 49ers take L.A. to the Outback and wood shed
Send back the Super Bowl rings.
Turns out the Los Angeles Rams
won’t go undefeated after all. They won’t make us forget the Fearsome Foursome or the ’85 Bears. The Dream Team woke up to a nightmare. And no, they won’t sweep those pesky 49ers.Yet after a thud of a season opener in the Land Down Under – drubbed, 27-7 by San Francisco – they assured themselves of a very long flight home to L.A.
Shoot, they’re lucky that it only counts as one loss, given that they lost convincingly on Thursday night and Friday morning. For all the massive hype showered on the Rams as the NFL’s offseason
champs, Sean McVay & Co. absorbed a resounding wakeup call at the hands of – who else? – their dreaded NFC West rival.
Acclimation 1, Quick Layover 0.
The 49ers went to Australia a week before kickoff, adjusting their body clocks to the Outback environment while building up to the NFL’s unveiling at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Rams arrived a little more than a day before the game.
Well, it sure looked like 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan one-upped McVay this time around.
“This is a humbling day for us,” summed up McVay.
Did it come down to the travel schedule and jet lag?
That’s a debate, whether proven scientifically or not, the Rams can’t worry about now. The game started with the Rams going three-and-out, followed by a long, crisp drive that led to a 49ers' field goal. And that pattern persisted as the 49ers demonstrated so much pep and energy and the Rams looked, well, flat.
One thing for certain: The Rams sure could have used Aaron Donald, especially as the game wore on and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (3 TDs, 1 INT) shredded L.A.’s defense with his legs, arm and Shanahan’s vibrant playbook.
Myles Garrett? The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, coming off his record 23-sack season with the Browns, had zero sacks and zero tackles in his Rams debut. In other words, he barely breathed on Purdy. Oh, that can happen when you’re matched up against the greatest left tackle of this generation, Trent Williams.
The Rams had their chances. But they were skewered on the Barbie. Matthew Stafford left a bit too much air on a corner route throw in the second quarter that was picked off by Renardo Green to abruptly wipe out a potential scoring drive. Even worse, Stafford, the reigning NFL MVP, was stuffed short of the goal line on a fourth down quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line. Then Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, the 49ers’ heartbeat linebackers, mugged Tyler Higbee to force a hope-killing fumble in the fourth quarter.
Hey, it’s Week 1. There’s a tendency to overreact to the results from the opening weekend and jump to conclusions.
So, let’s say this: The Rams (0-1) can still win Super Bowl 61 on their own turf at SoFi Stadium in February. It’s a long season. Stuff tends to change.
Remember how the Patriots, with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and crew, opened the 2003 season? Well, kids, let me tell you. New England was blasted 31-0 at Buffalo in Week 1.
At the end of the season, they celebrated a Super Bowl 38 victory against Carolina. And along the way, they got a measure of revenge with a 31-0 win against the Bills in the regular-season finale.
McVay knows. The Rams can swallow their medicine and keep pursuing the dream.
“This will define us only if we allow it to,” McVay said during his postgame presser.
Then again, the 49ers – with Warner, Nick Bosa and George Kittle healthy again – have something to define in their own right.
And from the first impressions of a new season, they too, can still win Super Bowl 61.
Follow Bell on X: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What Dream Team? Rams humbled, skewered and jet-lagged in flat debut | Opinion
