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Beating the runaway Super Bowl favorites was the easy part.
It didn’t necessarily have to look as simple as Kyle Shanahan made it appear in the 49ers’ 27-7 stomping of the Rams to begin their season in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday night.
But it was absolutely the bare minimum.
Linebacker Fred Warner said it felt like their opponents “withered away” as the game went on, and who could be surprised given the Rams had spent 16 of the previous 44 hours on a jet?
The 49ers, on the other hand, were well-rested and well-acclimated and looked like it. Boarding their plane home 1-0 became a non-negotiable with the emphasis they put on this game.
They were the ones who arrived a full week in advance and they’re also the ones who will have to fully re-adjust their body clocks upon their arrival back in San Francisco Friday afternoon.
The true test will be how they look next Sunday, back in the good, ole’ U.S. of A.
But even if you were to put an asterisk on their win down under against a foe that outsmarted itself, Shanahan has to be feeling pretty good about his chances on an even playing field.
It wasn’t just that the Rams were out of whack from the get-go, hardly resembling the team that came one win short of the Super Bowl last season.
The 49ers played with an authority that only comes through familiarity, and not only from spending the past week embracing their surroundings on the other side of the world.
Warner was back at the heart of the defense for the first time since Week 6 of last season, teaming up with Dre Greenlaw to force a fumble that all but iced the game in the fourth quarter. Deebo Samuel was dynamic anytime he touched the ball, including a kick return to midfield that set up a scoring drive.
Nick Bosa was a menace in the backfield, less than a year since tearing his ACL. The fact that George Kittle suited up at all less than nine months after tearing his Achilles tendon was a feat in and of itself and his presence alone had to bring a certain level of comfort.
These were the San Francisco 49ers we’ve come to know, and they looked every bit of the team that went all the way to the Super Bowl only three years ago.
It was almost easy to overlook that Christian McCaffrey only touched the ball 15 times.
The Rams’ five losses last season were decided by 17 total points. The 49ers beat them by 20 without getting significant contributions from either Kittle or McCaffrey.
Let’s be honest: Even a neutered version of these Rams is better than most teams in the NFL.
Sure, Aaron Donald might have been the only Ram who wasn’t jet-lagged because they left him back in Los Angeles, and Myles Garrett also said he wasn’t at 100%.
But that was news to Trent Williams, who said “no matter what he’s going through, it’s still not an easy out” and still dominated the matchup of future Hall-of-Famers, preventing Garrett from recording a single tackle or pressure. For all the questions surrounding the 49ers’ offensive line, Brock Purdy couldn’t have asked for better protection. The Rams didn’t sack him once.
Connor Colby, the winner of the competition at left guard, opened lanes in the running game for McCaffrey and Kaelon Black, the rare rookie who appears to have earned Shanahan’s trust.
The third-round pick was the 49ers’ only active running back besides McCaffrey and took the most handoffs on the team, carrying the ball 14 times for 65 yards. They may not need McCaffrey to lead the NFL in touches again if their second-string back runs like that.
Kittle admitted afterward that he was “not in shape, not at all” in his first game since tearing his Achilles in January. No problem. Purdy found a new favorite toy to play with in Mike Evans, who hooked up for six completions, including one for a touchdown and three third-down conversions.
It stands to reason that this was the real version of the 49ers, even if they were playing against a bleary-eyed mirage that was far from the best the Rams have to offer.
Now, they need to show that they can replicate it under normal conditions.
English (US)