The San Francisco 49ers start their season on prime-time playing the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia. This marks the first time in NFL history that there is a game in Australia. The Australians are getting a fun one, too, as Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay usually deliver a fun contest more often than a boring one.
But how good is it?
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Over at NFL.com, Jeremy Bergman has Week 1 as No. 3 in his top 10 prime-time games. Ahead of games like the New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals. His reasons for the ranking are sound: its Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay trying not to lose to one another.
Welcome to the first prime-time game in NFL history to kick off before lunch! Even if the league’s first regular-season trip to Australia didn’t feature two perennially contending NFC West rivals, this game would’ve made the list, simply for the novelty. After exhibiting international games on football pitches, rugby fields and made-for-NFL turfs, the league will be putting on San Francisco-Los Angeles at a cricket ground. Sorry, make that a 173-year-old cricket ground. SoFi Stadium, it isn’t — but that’s the fun. Adding to the special atmosphere: Though the Australia game will be broadcast at 8:35 p.m. ET on a Thursday in the States, the game will kick off at around 11 a.m. Melbourne time … on Friday. Do they even serve Foster’s that early? There are, of course, more pressing on-field matters for the teams. Reigning MVP Matthew Stafford and the Rams were thisclose to a Super Bowl berth in 2026 and are looking for a hot start and a divisional win against Brock Purdy’s 49ers, who bowed out in the Divisional Round but split the season series with L.A. last year. San Francisco doesn’t get to benefit from playing in front of the 49ers Faithful who typically pack SoFi, but the Niners should still be competitive against Sean McVay and Co. on the other side of the globe.
I get the fun of 49ers-Rams, and the game should be a good time. I also say this is the first game of the season, and Week 1 games tend to be more sloppy than they are good. Weird might even be a good word to describe them. This isn’t all games on the first week of the schedule, but the teams you see in Week 1 are not the teams you’ll see 15 weeks later.
With the game in Australia and it being the first week, something tells me it might be a bit of a mixed bag. Will it be good? Probably. The No. 3 prime-time game of the year? I doubt it. I’m expecting a lot of mistakes and clumsy plays from both teams as they play their first game of the season. Bergman did rank some games simply on the vibes of teams, and the 49ers/Rams deliver on that. Like most Week 1 games, I think you’ll see a lot of things that need fixing rather than defining moments—for both teams.
Do you see this game being one of the better prime-time games of the year, or should we pump the brakes a bit on those Week 1 slop-fests?
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