Superteam. Unbeatable. Super Bowl bound.
These were all used to describe the Los Angeles Rams all offseason, yet Week 1 proved why there’s no such thing as a sure thing in the NFL.
The Rams faced their NFC West foe, the San Francisco 49ers, in the NFL’s first-ever game in Australia on Thursday night (or should we say, 10:35 a.m. local time at the Melbourne Cricket Ground) and were dominated in a 27-7 loss to begin the 2026 season.
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Let’s be clear: This is no slight to the 49ers, a team many believe will earn a playoff berth in a loaded division. Rather, the noise and astronomical expectations for the Rams made this Week 1 performance a shocker to say the least.
While the “overrated” talk has already begun for football fans on social media, the question must be asked: were the Rams right to fly to Melbourne less than two days before kickoff?
The Rams arrived in Melbourne on Thursday morning local time, with 28 hours until kickoff to begin their season. On the other hand, the 49ers spent close to a week getting adjusted to Melbourne time, practicing multiple times and making sure the team was ready to play a Friday morning game.
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The approaches were polar opposite, with the Rams arguing they still felt like they were on Los Angeles time, meaning kickoff to them felt like 5:35 p.m. PT on Thursday night.
“What gives me confidence is I’m not going to really make it a big deal,” Rams coach Sean McVay said, via The Athletic, regarding the team’s plan to fly so close to gameday. “It’s, ‘Hey, this is what the reality is. We’ve got a long way to go, but let’s be ready to rock when that three-hour window that we’re allotted comes.’”
Both teams did their due diligence in terms of researching the best method and came to two completely different answers. The 49ers consulted sleep experts, coaches and anyone else they could find to see what would be best for the roster.
San Francisco knew the sleep conversation was coming. Considering this was only the NFL’s first game in Australia and the league continues expanding its global reach, it won’t be the last time franchises find themselves Down Under during the regular season.
“People are probably going to speculate after the game, ‘Well, this was better than the other,’” 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak explained, via the outlet. “But, at the end of the day, we’re going to go out there to play.
“It’s an unprecedented situation. We believe in the way we’re doing it. They believe in the way they’re doing it, and we’re going to play the game.”
It seemed pretty clear during these four quarters which team had the better way of doing things with this Australia game.
The 49ers came out buzzing and held that same intensity on both sides of the ball throughout the contest. Meanwhile, the Rams couldn’t find their usual rhythm, especially the reigning MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford.
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Year 18 didn’t begin the way he wanted, seeing just a handful of completions in the first half, though L.A. was only down by three points heading back to the locker room. The Rams scored the first touchdown of the contest early in the second quarter, but Stafford, for the most part, was not his accurate self in key moments.
One of them came after the Rams secured an interception on 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy following the L.A. touchdown drive, which running back Kyren Williams celebrated after busting into the end zone. Stafford was picked off by Renardo Green on a pass intended for Puka Nacua.
And then there was a clear show of force between these two teams when Nacua failed to break the plane on third-and-goal, leaving a fourth-and-goal situation for the Rams and half-a-yard to go. The 49ers just scored a touchdown to open the second half and secure a 17-7 lead.
Stafford went for the quarterback sneak, but he was stuffed right before the goal line, and the 49ers’ defense, which was stellar throughout the game, went ballistic.
To make matters worse, the Rams’ defense, which started the game hot and seemed to lose juice as it went along, gave up a 99-yard touchdown drive to the 49ers after Stafford’s failure to break the plane.
From there, the white flag was virtually raised by McVay on the sideline, sending out Stafford’s backup, Stetson Bennett, and other second-stringers to finish out the lopsided loss.
Also worth noting: Myles Garrett, whom the Rams acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns this offseason and has an insane impact on the “superteam” debate, didn’t finish with a single stat in his debut. He did deal with a knee situation during training camp, but he looked gassed as he came in and out of the game when the Rams were on defense.
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Perhaps his teammates were just as gassed, but it was clear on the scoreboard, and it will likely show up on tape, that the Rams just didn’t have the same energy as their division rival.
Of course, there’s still a long season ahead. Aaron Donald did not travel to Australia with the Rams for his highly anticipated return from retirement, and this squad could still become the juggernaut everyone expects it to be.
But they began the season on the wrong foot and will have a 15-hour flight home to consider whether flying down so late was the right decision.
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