For the third time this season, the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams will share the field. This time, something bigger is on the line: a ticket to Super Bowl 56. Will the Niners sweep clean their head to head this season with Los Angeles? Or will the Rams avenge their regular-season losses to San Francisco by taking the 49ers out of Super Bowl contention. Check out our preview below of this 49ers-Rams 2022 NFC Championship Game.
San Francisco pulled off an improbable 13-10 win over the Green Bay Packers over the weekend – at Lambeau Field, no less. The Niners relied on their excellent defense and a timely play by their special teams to steal a win in Green Bay. Bottling up Aaron Rodgers is never an easy thing to do for any defense, but San Francisco’s stop unit did. The 49ers held Rodgers to a touch-down less game, which speaks a lot about their ability to contain high-scoring teams. The Rams surely know all about that. In Week 10, the 49ers beat LA at home, 31-10. And in the regular-season finale in Week 18, San Francisco forced the Rams to commit two turnovers, albeit in a high-scoring 27-24 win in Inglewood. Jimmy Garoppolo has been somewhat of a heart attack under center in this postseason, as he has yet to throw for a touchdown but already has two interceptions and four sacks, so the pressure once again for San Francisco is on its defense that finished the regular season fifth with just 20.6 points allowed per game.
The 49ers are 4-0 against the spread in their last 4 games as an underdog.
The Rams sent Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers packing for an early vacation in a 30-27 victory on the road last Sunday. Matthew Stafford delivered a performance that will not soon be forgotten, especially if the Rams go all the way and win the Super Bowl. Stafford outplayed Brady, passing for 366 yards and a pair of touchdowns with zero interceptions on 28/38 completions. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp came up huge with 183 receiving yards and a touchdown on nine receptions and 11 targets. With the current form of the Rams’ offense, they seem prime to finally beat San Francisco. Stafford struggled with consistency towards the end of the regular season, but he’s cleaned it up in the postseason. In two games so far since Week 18, Stafford has completed 74.5 percent of his passes and owns a total of 568 passing yards and four touchdowns with zero interceptions. There’s also lots of weapon on defense for the Rams to bother Garoppolo. Von Miller, Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd, and Greg Gaines are all explosive players on the defensive line who can seriously disrupt San Francisco’s offense.
The Rams are 4-1 against the spread in their last 5 games following an ATS win.
