The Rams and 49ers will meet for the 141st time in their history on Saturday night, a series San Francisco leads 70-67-3. The 49ers have rolled to an 11-3 record this season, while Los Angeles is only 8-6 and clinging to its last hope of making the playoffs.
The Rams need a win in order to stay alive in the NFC, but San Francisco is a tough opponent – one that beat the Rams 20-7 in Week 6 already.
Here are six things to know about this upcoming matchup in Week 16.
McVay never loses to same team twice in a season
In his first three seasons, Sean McVay has had remarkable success against the NFC West. Though his Rams are just 2-2 in the division this season, they were 6-0 in 2018 and 4-2 in 2017. One thing McVay has never done is lose to the same opponent twice in a season, which is something he’ll try to avoid on Saturday night.
The 49ers beat the Rams 20-7 in their first meeting and will try to make it two in a row against Los Angeles this weekend. Considering how good the 49ers have been, this could very well be the first time McVay loses to the same team twice in the same year.
49ers defense not as dominant lately
In the last two games, the 49ers allowed 75 total points to the Saints and Falcons. That’s nearly the same number of points they allowed in the first seven games combined (77). San Francisco had been on a tear out of the gates, but the defense has been picked apart somewhat the last two weeks.
That doesn’t mean it’s still not one of the best in the NFL, but San Francisco has come back down to earth a bit recently.
49ers’ leading rusher has fewest carries of top 3 RBs
The 49ers’ backfield is one of the deepest in the NFL, and that’s even without Jerick McKinnon in the mix. The three-headed monster of Tevin Coleman, Matt Breida and Raheem Mostert is carrying the offense, being used almost interchangeably when one of them is hurt. Incredibly, It’s Mostert who leads the team in rushing despite having the fewest carries of the three.
He has 662 yards rushing on only 116 attempts, an average of 5.7 yards per carry, which is the highest among all qualified running backs this season. Breida isn’t far behind, gaining 607 yards on 119 carries (5.1 YPC), while Coleman has 500 yards on 127 attempts (3.9).
To put Mostert’s season into perspective, he only has 79 fewer yards than Todd Gurley (741) on 72 fewer carries.
Aaron Donald owns the 49ers
Donald owns most teams he faces, but he’s been especially good against the 49ers in his career. In 10 games, Donald has 10 career sacks, 13 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and 23 QB hits. Put simply, 49ers QBs have had a rough time against Donald.
The Rams are only 5-5 in those games, but Donald isn’t the reason for their struggles. His 34 solo tackles are the most he has against any NFL team and on Saturday night, he’ll try to put together another multi-sack performance as he did against them in Week 6.
.png?w=600)
