3 keys to a 49ers win over the Rams: Time for some old-school football

The San Francisco 49ers are set to face the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football for their third divisional game in five weeks.

It’s one where the 49ers are severely injured, with Brock Purdy, Ricky Pearsall, and Jauan Jennings being ruled out in addition to stars like George Kittle and Nick Bosa not playing.

So, the 49ers will trot out Mac Jones and five receivers who didn’t catch a pass for the team in 2024 as they look to upset the 3-1 Rams on the road. How can they make that possible?

Here are three keys to a 49ers win over the Rams on Thursday.

Deliver on third downs defensively

The Rams have been a quality football team so far this season. But, they definitely have flaws, with third-down conversions being near or at the top of the list over the past two weeks.

In last weekend’s 27-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Rams were just 4/12. The weekend before that against the Eagles? A combined 3/11 on third and fourth downs.

In both games, Los Angeles stacked up unproductive drives that allowed their opponents to go on a run. Last weekend, in the third quarter, the Rams had four consecutive punts on drives that were only three or four plays long, failing to convert a single third down.

Yes, their defense held up well, but the final punt led to an 11-play, 90-yard touchdown drive for the Colts that gave them a 17-13 lead.

The week before, the Rams were cruising with a 26-7 lead early in the third quarter. Then, the Eagles scored 26 consecutive points as Los Angeles punted, turned it over on downs, and had two field goals blocked, while missing out on four third and fourth downs.

Los Angeles has spurts in games where they’ve been largely ineffective offensively, which needs to be something San Francisco uses to its advantage.

The big kicker? San Francisco is currently 2nd in the NFL in opponent third-down conversion rate at a measly 32 percent, far better than their 43 percent rate in 2024. And they allowed the Jaguars to convert just 4/14 third downs in their first game without Nick Bosa.

So, the opportunity is there. San Francisco just needs to create it and capitalize.

Sound tackling

In years past, the Rams have relied on the quick passing game when facing the 49ers. And it makes sense why: Matthew Stafford is among the best at getting the ball out quickly, and San Francisco has generally gotten good pressure up front.

That latter part may be tough as the 49ers are without Nick Bosa, which is why players like Bryce Huff are going to have to step up. But, the remainder of the formula remains the same for the 49ers.

With the ball coming out quickly, the 49ers need to rally to the ball and have sound tackling to force tougher situations on later downs. That also means shoring up in the run game, where Kyren Williams has been inefficient before this past weekend.

Fred Warner and Dee Winters have been great to start the season. They’ll need to continue that trend, while the safety play must be better in the tackling department.

Sustain long drives

It’s a Thursday Night game where the 49ers seem outmatched on paper. The way to fix that? Shorten the game with longer drives offensively.

The 49ers have largely struggled to generate explosives on the ground this season, with Christian McCaffrey having zero runs of 20+ yards through four weeks. While it may be tough to get those against a tough Rams defense, they just can’t have negative plays to sustain drives.

It’s time to return to the 10+ play scoring drives that take chunks of time off the clock. Mac Jones has proven to be efficient enough when running the offense, although it will be a challenge with a brand-new receiving core.

The run-blocking has to be better everywhere, from the offensive line to the tight ends and especially at wide receiver. But, if the 49ers can pound the ball on the ground with non-negative plays, they can slow the game down, which is where those third-down stops really come in handy.