Los Angeles Rams vs San Francisco 49ers opening odds: Who strikes first in NFC West?

Who’s favored to win much-anticipated NFC Championship rematch?

The Los Angeles Rams will travel to Santa Clara next week to take on another hated NFC West foe in the San Francisco 49ers and they have opened as 2-point underdogs according to DraftKings Sportsbook. This highly anticipated NFC Championship rematch will determine who has early control of a tight divisional race so far in 2022.

LA hadn’t shown much dominance through the first two weeks as they were blown out against the Bills in the opener and barely squeaked out a win in holding off the Falcons last Sunday. This weekend’s game in Arizona was never in doubt as the defending champs never trailed in a 20-12 win which improved the Rams to 11-1 all-time under Head Coach Sean McVay.

Los Angeles pushed aside any questions about their tough two-game stretch to begin their title defense with a dominant defensive effort in the desert, highlighted by star Aaron Donald’s 100th career sack.

LA will look to reward their betters on Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers, who are in Denver to play the Broncos on Sunday Night Football. The Niners have started the season 1-1, losing to Chicago in a monsoon to start the season before coming back to bully the Seahawks 27-7 last weekend.

San Francisco lost promising second-year quarterback Trey Lance for the year to an ankle injury. Luckily for them they had quality insurance in Jimmy Garoppolo who sat behind the North Dakota State product, hungry for another chance to start. I bet everything in my bank account that John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan are breathing a deep sigh of relief that his nagging shoulder injury prevented a trade to Washington. So now, the Rams will again be seeing the pesky version of Jimmy G that doesn’t go away until the waning seconds.

Despite winning a thrilling NFC Championship game in front of the SoFi crowd this past January, this had been the Rams’ record with McVay against the 49ers:

LA has lost six of the last seven matchups against Shanahan’s Niners, including a brutal week 18 loss at home which allowed SF to sneak into the postseason and make another deep run.

Los Angeles looked much improved for the second-straight week (or at least in seven of the last eight quarters.) They’re still struggling to find an offensive identity as the run game has been fairly inconsistent and the pass catching options are unreliable outside of Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee. San Francisco has dealt with notable injuries, especially on offense with the losses of Lance, starting running back Eli Mitchell and All-Pro George Kittle who made his season debut against the Broncos.

Who do you trust more this week? Will the 49ers’ powerful defensive front be too much for the Rams’ makeshift O-line to handle or will they stay strong as they have the last two weeks? Will the Rams see a more consistent run game or will the Niners shut them down, making their offense one-dimensional? Unfortunately, I’m not seeing a victorious encore for LA in this matchup.

My pick is for the Rams to go against the spread and drop a heartbreaker to the favored 49ers. Who are you betting on in Week 4? Let’s discuss in the comments!