49ers at Rams: NFC West Rivalry Opens Historic Melbourne Game
The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers renew their NFC West rivalry on Thursday night in the first NFL regular-season game ever played in Australia. Kickoff at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is set for 8:35 PM ET (10:35 AM Friday local time) and will stream exclusively on Netflix. Both teams enter with real Super Bowl expectations, and both spent the offseason adding star power on display for a global audience 8,000 miles from home.
If last night’s game taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected this first week. Regardless, the Rams are 3.5-point favorites with the total set at 48.5.
The Last Meeting
San Francisco and Los Angeles split their two 2025 meetings, and the Rams took the more recent one. Los Angeles won 42-26 at Levi’s Stadium on November 9, with Matthew Stafford throwing for 280 yards and four touchdowns and Davante Adams adding a touchdown of his own. That result came about a month after the 49ers won the first meeting 26-23 in overtime at SoFi Stadium on October 2, a short-week road game San Francisco won while missing Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, George Kittle, and its top three receivers. The season series has gone back and forth, and both meetings were tightly contested until the Rams pulled away late in the second matchup.
What to Know This Time Around?
San Francisco’s biggest offseason move was signing wide receiver Mike Evans away from the only team he has ever played for. Evans left Tampa Bay after 12 seasons for a three-year, $60.4 million deal, bringing a career built on 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons to open his career, tied for the longest streak in NFL history. Evans dealt with a hamstring injury and a broken collarbone in 2025, and he has been managing a groin issue for most of this training camp, but as of September 8, he was not on the 49ers’ injury report and is expected to play.
San Francisco is also hoping to get tight end George Kittle back from a torn Achilles suffered in January, and running back Christian McCaffrey, who dealt with calf tightness earlier in the week, returned to full practice participation ahead of Thursday. Nick Bosa is trending toward playing after being limited with knee soreness. San Francisco also brought Deebo Samuel back into the fold, giving Brock Purdy another familiar weapon, while Ricky Pearsall is out for the season.
Los Angeles made two seismic additions. The Rams traded two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse and three future draft picks (a 2027 first, 2028 second, and 2029 third) to Cleveland for Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year who set the league’s single-season sack record with 23 in 2025. Garrett is confirmed to play Thursday. The bigger surprise came when Aaron Donald came out of retirement on August 30, signing a one-year, $20 million deal to rejoin the only team he has ever played for.
Donald won’t make his return this week in Melbourne, though. Head coach Sean McVay ruled him out and confirmed he will not travel with the team, preferring to keep building him back up after two and a half years away from football rather than rush him into action across international travel. Los Angeles also upgraded its secondary, trading for cornerback Trent McDuffie from Kansas City and signing his former Chiefs teammate Jaylen Watson, moves that will be tested immediately against San Francisco’s receiving corps.
Keys to the Game
49ers: Keys to Victory
San Francisco’s biggest advantage Thursday may have nothing to do with X’s and O’s. The 49ers arrived in Melbourne nearly a week before kickoff to adjust to the time change, while the Rams plan to land roughly 24 hours before the game after a 15-hour flight. If that preparation gap shows up on the field in the fourth quarter, it could matter as much as any matchup. On offense, the 49ers need their skill-position stars to actually be available and effective: Evans has to hold up after an offseason of nagging injuries, McCaffrey needs to handle a full workload without setback, and Kittle, even in a limited role, gives Purdy a reliable answer over the middle that this offense has missed for most of a year.
Defensively, not having to account for Aaron Donald is a real break, but Myles Garrett is still walking into the building, and San Francisco’s offensive line needs early answers for him or Purdy will be under siege all night. If Bosa can be disruptive on the other side and force Los Angeles into uncomfortable third downs, San Francisco has a real path to using its extra week of acclimation to steal a road win in a building that will feel like a road environment for both teams.
Rams: Keys to Victory
Los Angeles enters as the team with more firepower on paper, and the first key is simply cashing that in early. Stafford led the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns last season; Puka Nacua led the league in receptions, and Davante Adams led it in receiving touchdowns, so there is no shortage of options to get rolling against a 49ers defense that has dealt with its own injury questions. Kyren Williams gives the offense a reliable closer if L.A. can build an early lead behind that passing attack, particularly against a shorthanded and travel-worn 49ers front seven. Defensively,
Myles Garrett doesn’t need Aaron Donald next to him to be a problem, and if he can win one-on-one reps early, it forces Purdy into faster decisions than San Francisco wants to make on the road. The concern worth watching is the travel itself. Landing roughly a day before kickoff after a cross-Pacific flight is not how the Rams would draw this up, and if fatigue creeps into the fourth quarter, a game Los Angeles should control from a talent standpoint could stay closer than the numbers suggest. Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson also make their Rams debuts in coverage, and how quickly that secondary communicates against a receiving corps that includes Evans and Deebo Samuel will say a lot about whether this defense is ready to be as good as its personnel suggests.
DraftKings Showdown Picks
Captain Recommendation
Coming off a league-leading 129 receptions, Nacua is the safest volume play on this slate regardless of price. Worth the captain-spot premium if the number allows it.
DraftKings Salary: $10,600
Another obvious starter. There will be a lot of chaulk in this game, so it won’t be about finding the most unique lineups; it’ll come down to one or two guys. CMC is a lock, though. If he’s fully cleared after this week’s calf tightness, McCaffrey is a three-down workload play in what should be a competitive, pass-heavy script.
DraftKings Salary: $1,600
This slate will come down to finding that one guy who will make an impact, and bang for buck; it’s hard not to like the Rams rookie.
Max Klare is a name worth knowing here. The Rams took him in the second round (61st overall) out of Ohio State, and scouts compared his catch-and-run style to Sam LaPorta and Trey McBride, more polish than blocking. He landed 12 catches for 55 yards in preseason work, showing early trust from the staff even in a crowded TE room. At $1,600, Klare barely dents a Showdown budget, so even one scoring look in Stafford’s red zone, which led the NFL in touchdowns last season, makes him worth the dart throw.
Props
Kobie Turner Over/Under 1 Sack (+200)
The best players not only make an impact on the game, but they also make the players around you better. Turner had 7 sacks last season, and playing with Myles Garrett could free him up to get even more opportunities this season.
Mike Evans Over 44 Receiving Yards (-115)
He’s a veteran, but he’s going to make plays. The Rams will do their best to shut down the passing game, but Evans isn’t a world beater anymore; he’ll make contested catches when needed. We’re not looking for one big catch, I would predcit Evans has 3 to 4 catches to easily hit this tota.
My Pick
Rams 27-23
