SANTA CLARA — The sight of the Los Angeles Rams has occasionally served as a jump-start for 49ers teams attempting to find themselves under Kyle Shanahan.
They’ve played some big ones. The 49ers needed to beat the Rams at SoFi Stadium in the final game of the 2021 season to even reach the playoffs and lost in the NFC Championship Game a few weeks later at the same site.
But there hasn’t been a matchup since former colleagues Shanahan and the Rams’ Sean McVay took over their teams in 2017 quite like Thursday night’s game at Levi’s Stadium.
Both have had their ups and downs and are on the playoff fringe.
The Rams are 7-6 and at No. 8 in the NFC with the top seven advancing to the postseason. The 49ers are 6-7 and No. 11. It’s a bigger game for the 49ers than the Rams, with Los Angeles still within striking distance of Seattle (8-5) in the NFC West with a loss.
If the 49ers lose, their odds might be better for winning the state lottery than reaching the postseason.
“Last week felt like the playoffs already,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “Since that Buffalo game, every week is a playoff game. So, it feels like it this week and hopefully we can take care of business, so next week feels the same.”
The 49ers are coming off their most complete performance of the season in a 38-13 win over the Chicago Bears. All the Rams did was beat the Buffalo Bills 44-42 — the same Bills team that blew out the 49ers 35-10 the previous week in the snow.
“Last week was a one-game mindset and it’s the exact same thing this week,” middle linebacker Fred Warner said Tuesday. “Thursday night football against a divisional opponent, everything on the line. Our season’s on the line, they have a lot to play for. It’s a playoff atmosphere as much as you’re going to get.”
The 49ers have had the upper hand since Shanahan and McVay were hired in 2017, at one point winning nine straight regular-season games from 2019 through the first meeting of 2023. But the Rams won the biggest one on Jan. 30, 2022, coming from behind to beat the 49ers 20-17 and using it as a springboard to win Super Bowl LVI against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Los Angeles is currently on a two-game win streak, beating the 49ers 27-24 in Week 3 and last year’s regular-season finale 21-20 when the 49ers were resting regulars after securing the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Including the playoff game, Shanahan’s 49ers have beaten McVay’s Rams in 10 of 16 games. The two worked together for a year on Jon Gruden’s staff in Tampa Bay before moving on to Washington under Kyle’s father Mike Shanahan.
They were brought up in the same system before branching off on their own. Each man dumped a franchise quarterback, with McVay trading Jared Goff for Matthew Stafford and Shanahan phasing out Jimmy Garoppolo (first for Trey Lance, eventually for Brock Purdy).
Shanahan was interested in Stafford as well, but McVay got there first.
Here’s a look at three previous games against the Rams that helped put the 49ers on an upward trajectory:
Nov. 15, 2021: 49ers 31, Rams 10 at Levi’s Stadium
The 49ers were on the brink of an early exit in the playoff race with a 3-5 record. The Rams were 7-2 and on their way to an NFC West title. Shanahan made two moves which altered the course of the season. First, he installed Deebo Samuel as a “wide back” and ran his most explosive receiver out of the backfield. Second, he took defensive end Arik Armstead and moved him inside to tackle.
“I do think we caught them off guard,” Samuel said. “I was kind of more surprised than they were at the time. We got the ‘W’ and we’ve got another (prime-time) game this week so we’ll be ready.”
Samuel scored on an 8-yard run and caught a 40-yard touchdown pass. He ran five times for 37 yards and caught five passes for 97 yards. Jimmie Ward returned an interception for a touchdown, the 49ers ran the ball 44 times for 156 yards and Garoppolo was 15 of 19 for 182 yards.
Deebo Samuel (19) breaks a tackle from the Rams’ Darious Williams in a 31-10 win by the 49ers on Nov. 15, 2021. Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
Oct. 3, 2022, 49ers 24, Rams 9 at Levi’s Stadium
The 49ers were 1-2 and coming off an 11-10 road loss to Denver when Garoppolo stepped out of the back of the end zone and then had the temerity to smile in a postgame greeting with a former teammate. The Rams were 2-1 and the defending Super Bowl champions.
It was a breakout performance for safety Talanoa Hufanga, who put the game away with a 52-yard interception return against Stafford. The 49ers went up for good at 14-6 when Garoppolo hit Samuel for a 57-yard touchdown.
Oct. 30, 2022: 49ers 31, Rams 14 at SoFi Stadium
Shanahan got back at McVay for losing out on Stafford when the 49ers swung a trade for Carolina running back Christian McCaffrey, whom the Rams coveted as well. McCaffrey played a minor role in 44-23 blowout loss to Kansas City that dropped the 49ers’ record to 3-4. The Rams came to town at 3-3 with McCaffrey having his first full week of practice.
It was a McCaffrey tour de force. He threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk, caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Garoppolo and scored on a 1-yard run. He carried 18 times for 94 yards and caught eight passes for 55 yards.
The win ignited a 10-game win streak to close the regular season that included a win over Miami in Week 13 when Garoppolo was lost for the season and Purdy took over as a rookie starting quarterback who was the last pick of the NFL Draft.
For what it’s worth, Rams games seem to bring out the most vocal of the fan base — especially when the games are played at night.
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“In Levi’s with the fans we’ve got, sometimes it feels like the ground is shaking,” Samuel said.
Warner isn’t as interested in reliving past glories as much as concentrating on what’s in front of the 49ers.
“Man, that seems like light years ago,” Warner said of the 2021 game when the 49ers were 3-5. “But we’ve been in moments like this. What it comes down to is who can do right for longer. Both teams come in knowing what’s at stake.”
