The San Francisco 49ers are getting ready for their Week 1 matchup in Australia against the Los Angeles Rams. Much has been made of the two teams’ differing strategies as the Niners are going to be in Australia for a week, while the Rams are going to fly in right before the game.
San Francisco is set to leave for Australia on Wednesday night, and it may already be regretting that decision. It'll likely force the 49ers to make a decision on whether some of their star players will make the flight to Melbourne a bit early.
The main two question marks are George Kittle and Nick Bosa. Both are coming off major injuries, and there's been a lot of hand-wringing about whether they will be ready for Week 1. If the Niners don’t think they can play, then one would assume they’d just stay in Santa Clara and get ready for Week 2, which will be a home game at Levi’s Stadium.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said scientists and experts informed him that getting to Australia a week early is what is best for the team. It makes sense, since one would imagine it will take a few days for players to get acclimated to the time change and all of the differences.
The main negative is that it forces the Niners into a bit of a premature decision on who to bring with them. Do they really want Bosa and Kittle to fly all that way just to watch the game on the sideline?
Meanwhile, the Rams have more times to evaluate some of their questionable players. They will have more clarity on the status of wide receiver Puka Nacua and will have more time to get defensive tackle Aaron Donald up to speed before he makes his return to the NFL.
The thing is, no one really knows what the best approach is. This is the first NFL game in Australia, so the Niners and Rams are essentially guinea pigs, taking their best guess at what will be best approach for their teams but not truly knowing for sure.
The 49ers can’t complain about it, though, because it’s out of their control. And they're going to play another international game later this year in Mexico City anyway, so they have to get used to all this travel.
We will see how it all plays out, but the fact they have to make an accelerated decision on Bosa and Kittle is a little bit concerning and may force them to err on the side of caution.
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