3 storylines for Rams and 49ers in Week 17

Say what you will about a “meaningless” Week 17 game with positioning out of your control, but losing a final home game, especially as there has been one less for the home fans these last two seasons, is something to consider. Finishing on a high note, especially against a 49ers team on a four-game roll with Jimmy Garoppolo playing really well, should be important enough for bragging rights.

Also, there is some irony in flipping the script in one season and posting the exact opposite record than the Los Angeles Rams did in 2016.

I mean, let’s not forget how bad last season ended at 4-12.

Fisher had been fired, Gurley had only been seen on the back of a milk carton, and the number #1 overall pick in the draft was beginning his professional career in Los Angeles at 0-7.

That’s bad.

They were also swept by the team they face in this weeks season finale, San Francisco.

ALSO, this Niners team almost, I say ALMOST beat them in Week 3 at Levi’s Stadium.

Sure, 11-5 would be a remarkable finish all things being equal. But to win the NFC West, dethrone Seattle in the process, and do a 180 record wise from a season ago is something that would cap a season no one, and I mean NO ONE saw coming.

Beating the Niners accomplishes that,

The remarkable turnaround for the Los Angeles Rams May be in the early stages of being duplicated up the coast in San Francisco.

Trade deadline acquisition Jimmy Garoppolo has helped lead the 49ers to a four game winning streak they’d like to continue Week 17 in LA.

It’s a powershift that will play out in real-time at the Coliseum to wrap up the 2017 season. For the Rams, who split with the Seahawks but completely took them apart in Week 15, beating the 49ers who almost beat them in Week 3, completes the circle from 2016, and sets the stage for next season.

Give San Francisco credit for pulling off a trade that solves their longtime quarterback issue. In Garoppolo, assuming he’s there next year, they have a guy who will have played five games under Kyle Shanahan, and earned a ton of respect from a locker room who had little to be excited about heading into 2017 at that position.

Next: Rams win in Tennessee is rich in irony

Win Goff and Jimmy G. headlining the 2018 season out west, and Seattle retooling but with a still dangerous Russell Wilson, the NFC West may be the best division in the NFL.

Meaning that Goff and the Los Angeles Rams may see a legitimate challenge to the top spot in the division for years to come.