Week 15 starts with a Thursday night thriller in Santa Clara. Two NFC West foes clash with hopes of making the playoffs still hanging in the balance. Sean McVay and his Los Angeles Rams Hess to Santa Clara, California to take on Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers. Kickoff from Levi Stadium is set for 8:15 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime. A light rain is forecasted for kickoff. Let’s take a look at this Rams-49ers preview and predictions.
The Los Angeles Rams sit just a game behind the Seattle Seahawks for the NFC West lead and a game behind the Washington Commanders for the last spot in the NFC Wild Card. Each of their last four games are going to be crucial to their playoff hopes and Super Bowl aspirations. The Rams are winners of three of the last four games, including a huge 44-42 win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 14. After starting 1-4, they are now 7-6 and right in the mix. The Rams rallied and won the Week 3 matchup on a late field goal 27-24.
The Super Bowl hangover has been real for last year’s NFC Conference champion San Francisco 49ers. Losers of three of their last four games they had a nice bounce back last week against the Chicago Bears with a commanding 38-13 win. Injuries have been the 49ers biggest battle this season. Issac Guerendo was the latest running back casualty last week, but he returned to a limited practice Wednesday leaving the door open for him to play Thursday Night.
If Guerendo doesn’t play, Patrick Taylor is expected to take starting reps, and personally, I’d keep an eye on Israel Abanikanda as a sleeper fantasy/DFS/betting play. Nick Bosa returned to practice after missing the last three games, leaving hope that he could also play on Thursday. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw also saw his first full practice since having his 21-day window opened to return from the IR.
Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers Preview and Predictions Video
Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers Preview and Predictions
George Kittle Over 4.5 Receptions (-106)
George Kittle has been a solid piece of this 49ers offense in the absence of many of their offensive weapons this season. He’s topped the five-reception mark in six games this season including four of his last six games. Four of the last five when Brock Purdy started at quarterback. Kittle has missed the last couple of Rams rivalry games and this will be his first appearance in one since Week 2 of 2023. The Rams won’t make things easy on Purdy again this week, and he’ll look Kittle’s way plenty.
San Francisco 49ers -2.5 (-130)
Kyle Shanahan has owned Sean McVay in this NFC West Rivalry. The Rams have pulled off the last two wins over the 49ers. But before that, it was nine regular season wins in a row over the Los Angeles Rams. The 49ers were handling the Rams in Week 3 before a heroic Rams comeback gave them the win in the closing minutes.
Of course, looking at this game from the way these two teams’ seasons are going, you could make a strong case for the Rams to win this one. They are coming off a huge win over the Bills last week. They’ve won the last two games in close matchups and their season feels like it’s going better. But when it comes to division rivalries throw all that away. The Rams are public dogs getting 78% of the bets currently, and public dogs have fleas. This is going to be a close one, and Shanahan has come out on the positive side more times than not. He and the 49ers keep their playoff hopes alive with a win Thursday night.
