The San Francisco 49ers entered the first regular-season game in Australia as underdogs against a Los Angeles Rams team widely viewed as one of the league’s best. They left Melbourne with a 27-7 win and undoubtedly the most convincing Week 1 performance yet.
San Francisco trailed 7-3 early but scored the final 24 points. Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes, the defense repeatedly disrupted Matthew Stafford, and the 49ers controlled the game on the ground with 174 rushing yards. The Rams managed only 290 total yards and converted two of nine third downs.
The game also exposed individual winners and losers on both sides, particularly among the stars expected to shine this season.
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Winner: Brock Purdy
He completed 25 of 34 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. More importantly, he consistently kept drives alive after San Francisco fell behind early. His 39-yard touchdown to Demarcus Robinson gave the 49ers the lead, and his 99-yard touchdown drive in the second half effectively broke the Rams’ resistance.
Purdy also made plays outside structure. On the Deebo Samuel touchdown drive, he escaped pressure and moved to his right before finding Samuel for a 15-yard score.
The interception was a legitimate blemish, but it did little to change the overall performance. Against a Rams defense featuring Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie, Purdy was rarely rattled.
Loser: Matthew Stafford
The reigning NFL MVP finished 15-of-25 for 155 yards and no touchdown passes. He also threw an interception and was eventually replaced by Stetson Bennett late in the fourth quarter.
The numbers only tell part of the story. San Francisco consistently forced Stafford to work through pressure and prevented Los Angeles from turning promising drives into points. The biggest example came late in the third quarter, when the Rams reached the 49ers’ 1-yard line and Stafford was stopped on fourth down.
It was only the second time in Stafford’s last 85 starts that the Rams failed to reach double-digit points.
That is a particularly bad opening performance for a quarterback who threw 46 touchdown passes last season.
Loser: Myles Garrett
The reigning Defensive Player of the Year finished without a tackle, sack or quarterback hit. San Francisco’s offensive line, led by Trent Williams, repeatedly prevented Garrett from becoming the disruptive force Los Angeles acquired him to be.
Garrett was also limited at times because of the knee issue he carried into the game. He later described the performance as the “worst version” of himself and acknowledged that he needs to recover and return to the player he knows he can be (h/t Greg Beachman of The Associated Press)
The concern is not that Garrett suddenly became a bad player, but the Rams paid a massive price to acquire him and games like this are supposed to be where he changes the outcome.
San Francisco made sure he never got the chance.
Winner: Mike Evans
The veteran caught six passes and scored his first touchdown with San Francisco, hauling in a 2-yard pass from Purdy in the third quarter. He and Samuel each finished with six receptions as the 49ers’ veteran receivers carried the passing game after De’Zhaun Stribling was lost to an ankle injury.
Evans’ size gave Purdy a reliable outside target, while his presence prevented the Rams from simply concentrating their coverage on Samuel and Christian McCaffrey.
The 49ers needed Evans to immediately become a focal point. He delivered
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Loser: George Kittle
That should not be interpreted as a concern about his recovery. San Francisco was always expected to manage his workload carefully after an unusually quick return from the injury, and the 49ers had enough offensive firepower to avoid forcing the issue.
Still, Kittle was largely a non-factor while Evans, Samuel and Robinson carried the passing attack. The 49ers also lost Jake Tonges to an apparent leg injury during the game, which could make Kittle’s role more important going forward.
For one night, however, the comeback story was overshadowed by the rest of San Francisco’s offense.
Winner: Fred Warner
The veteran linebacker finished with 11 tackles and helped San Francisco control the middle of the field. He also forced a fumble from Rams tight end Tyler Higbee that set up Eddy Piñeiro’s 56-yard field goal, pushing the 49ers’ lead to 27-7.
The 49ers defense did not need a sack to dominate the game. It pressured Stafford, closed running lanes and repeatedly forced Los Angeles into difficult down-and-distance situations.
Warner’s leadership was especially important with Nick Bosa returning from his ACL injury and Dre Greenlaw also back in the lineup. San Francisco’s defensive core looked significantly healthier than it did in last year’s matchup against the Rams.
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Winner: Demarcus Robinson
The veteran receiver caught a 39-yard touchdown from Purdy late in the second quarter, giving San Francisco a 10-7 lead after the Rams had controlled portions of the opening half. That play changed the game.
Robinson ultimately became part of a veteran receiving trio that accounted for all three of Purdy’s touchdown passes. Evans, Robinson and Samuel combined for 14 catches, 147 yards and three touchdowns.
Loser: Sean McVay
The clearest example came in the third quarter. Los Angeles reached the San Francisco 1-yard line but passed up a field goal and attempted to convert fourth down with a Stafford quarterback sneak. The 49ers stopped him, took over and then marched 99 yards for a touchdown.
That sequence turned a 17-7 game into a 24-7 game and effectively ended the Rams’ comeback hopes.
McVay defended the team’s decision to arrive in Australia only a day before kickoff and said travel was not the reason for the loss. But the Rams looked slower and less prepared than San Francisco throughout the second half, while the 49ers had spent a week acclimating to Melbourne.
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For a team that entered the season with Super Bowl expectations, the problem was not one bad decision. The Rams were outplayed in virtually every important area after halftime.
San Francisco was faster, more physical and far more composed when the game turned. That made the 27-7 final score less surprising by the end than it looked when the Rams took their early lead.
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