On some level, the San Francisco 49ers are responsible for the Los Angeles Rams playing football in January.
Coming into the Week 3 matchup between the two teams at SoFi Stadium, the buzz around the Rams was not good. Los Angeles had lost its first two games of the season -- a crushing overtime defeat to the Lions and an absolute pounding dished out by the Cardinals -- and the 49ers, despite a less than impressive showing in a Week 2 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, were expected to bounce back and defeat a team they'd beaten in nine of the last 10 regular-season matchups.
The Rams were also quite injured heading into the game, with no wide receivers Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua to catch passes from quarterback Matthew Stafford, and over half of the starters along the offensive line missing. The defense, without now-retired defensive tackle Aaron Donald, looked awful in giving up 41 points to the Arizona Cardials the week before.
And for a while, the outcome of the game was going exactly as anticipated.
The Niners jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead behind two Brock Purdy touchdown tosses to wide receiver Jauan Jennings and an inept offensive showing from Stafford and the Rams (31 total yards on two possessions, the second of which bled into the second quarter).
After the 49ers punted on their first drive of the second quarter, the Rams got the ball back and ran six plays before being forced to punt again. The Niners would be in business with an opportunity to make it a three-score lead heading into the half.
But then, well, we all know what happened: The 49ers' season in a microcosm.
A fake punt, which nobody on the Niners' special teams unit even remotely appeared to expect, extends LA's drive and led to a touchdown. It's 14-7 at halftime instead of 21 or 17 to nothing.
The Niners would score again to start the third quarter, but only managed three more points while allowing the Rams to score 20 second half points en route to a disappointing collapse and a 27-24 loss.
I'm revisiting this painful memory because it was a key moment for the Rams in 2024.
Sure, they lost the next two games to the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers before settling in after their bye week and rattling off three straight wins to even their record and finishing off the season with just three more losses, including beating the 49ers again in one of the ugliest football games ever seen. Their 10-7 record was good enough to win the NFC West and get them into the playoffs.
And this should make Niners fans angry.
For one, the Rams are in the playoffs and not San Francisco. That's an easy connection to make.
But if the 49ers had played better (something you could say for most of the season, to be fair) in Week 3, there's a real chance the Rams have a harder time recovering their season. If special teams doesn't give up that fake punt or the long punt return in the fourth quarter, the Niners win this game (and many others).
The rumors began flying around during the bye week. Would the Rams trade Kupp? Stafford? Who knows if another loss would have made a difference, even a divisional loss, but the conversations were being had within the Rams building.
But the more important reason that 49ers fans should be infuriated by the Rams' season continuing into January is that they managed to overcome some of the things San Francisco could not.
Los Angeles was very injured for the first half of its season, something which likely impacted the success early in the season and the 49ers should have taken advantage of that in Week 3.
But the bigger issue is that the Rams got players back and were able to turn their season around.
For the Niners, it felt more like fits and starts. A key player would return, like running back Christian McCaffrey, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, or rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, only for that player to get hurt again (in the case of McCaffrey and Greenlaw) or for the return to be overshadowed by the loss of someone else (Brandon Aiyuk tearing his ACL in the same game that Pearsall made his debut).
Furthermore, this season continues to feed overstated narratives about 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and his inability to overcome adversity, be it losing players or holding a lead in a Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, Rams fans can hold their recent Super Bowl victory over the heads of Niners fans as proof that Sean McVay is a better coach, another narrative supported by this season (and even though the Rams won the only Super Bowl that hasn't featured the Chiefs in five years).
As a Rams fan said to Niner Noise, "Shanahan can't win the big one. Just look at his time in Atlanta or since he's been in San Francisco. He's a good coach, but he gets in his own way."
A season like the one the 49ers just finished lends itself to more of this. And while a lot of the negativity is reasonable (the special teams unit was awful this year, closing games was an issue, etc.), it's the Rams overcoming similar issues that is most crushing here in January.
The 2024 season was one characterized by frustration and disappointment for the 49ers and their fans. That is made all the more infuriating that one of their rivals has managed to put it together later in the season and is now one win from the NFC Championship game.