LA Rams heal as SF 49ers face Packers in NFC Championship

The LA Rams are healing and preparing for the 2020 NFL season. Meanwhile, the SF 49ers compete in NFC Championship game

The LA Rams were not alone. The San Francisco 49ers surprised everyone with a 13-3 run on the NFL this season, best in the NFC. This weekend they face the Green Bay Packers for the right to play in Super Bowl LIV.  That’s quite an accomplishment already for a team which had a mere 4-12 record from the season before.

The last team to accomplish that feat were the 1998 and 1999 (Saint Louis) Rams. In 2000, the same Rams played to a 10-6 season..

Much like the 1999 Rams season, the 49ers have one of the healthiest teams in the NFL. In fact, the team reports no injuries as they enter the NFC Championship game. While that has made all the difference in the world this season, many do not recognize the sheer wear and tear on an NFL team for continuing their season into February.

Healthy teams succeed in the NFL

The 49ers remained healthy all season. Prior to the 2019 season, the 49ers had reorganized their medical staff and training aides under a new role of Head of Player Health and Perforrmance in 2019.

If that sounds familiar to you, it should. The LA Rams had already reorganized their training and medical staff under a similar department of Sports Medicine and Performance, let by Senior Director Reggie Scott.  The difference between the effect of similar departments is clear: the 49ers had more time to recover for the 2019 season.

After a Super Bowl run last season, the Rams health issues became a significant hurdle the team simply was unable to overcome this year. With that in mind, it seems logical to conclude that an additional six weeks are vital to recover from an NFL season.  For the first time in three seasons, the Rams players are discovering that first hand now.

Rams recovery room

Players are getting their minor corrective surgeries out of the way early.  We had already reported surgeries for safety Eric Weddle, offensive guard/center Austin Blythe, and “Big Whit” Andrew Whitworth having minor corrective surgery this offseason. No doubt other players are rehabbing without surgical intervention. But the results are the same. Bodies need time to heal. For the first time in three seasons, Los Angeles Rams players getting just that – time to heal.

Of course, there is no way to argue or conclude that it’s better to sit this one out rather than compete in post season. But It’s a fact of the schedule that teams not extending their season have more recovery time.  After the Rams roster was decimated by injuries in 2019, recovery is a strong consolation prize. Is this a liliputian perspective, where a small and trivial matter is getting too much attention here?  Perhaps.

Everyone knows the history,  the 2019 LA Rams finished 9-7.  The team’s hopes for post-season ended when 49ers kicker Robbie Gould nailed a game winner as time ran out in a 34-31 loss. Rams fans clung to those playoff hopes knowing all the while that once in the playoffs, anything can happen.  So perhaps little components can have big results after all, given the right circumstances.  After all, wherever the 49ers end up this year, they have to come back next season and do it all over again.  And the LA Rams will be ready and waiting for them. All healed up and set to go in 2020.