LA Rams must shed nice guy image and sink the 49ers season

NFC West remains a tough NFL Division

The Rams are just 1-1 in the NFC West Division, while the 49ers are 0-3 this year in divisional competition. Should the 49ers fall to 0-4 and to a 3-6 record, they would all but be out of any meaningful NFL Playoff discussions. A loss to the Rams could create such an uphill battle that the 49ers season would be more about the 2022 NFL Draft than the 2021 NFL season.

To do that, the Rams have got to stop being the nice guys when facing the 49ers. This one is not about nice play. This is about winning, and as the Rams have learned on the receiving end of defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, it’s not about which team is better on paper nor which team has the better record. The 49ers have proven that, when it comes to games with the LA Rams, that they simply want it more.

Time for the Rams to shed the nice guy image and sink the 49ers by wanting this one more.

The Arizona Cardinals have a commanding lead in the NFC West. Even if the Rams win the Week 10 contest, the Cardinals remain undefeated in the division. That means that the Rams must sweep the remaining divisional games in order to have a shot at winning the NFC West. The division looks like this:

Arizona Cardinals       8-2                   Division 3-0
LA Rams                       7-2                   Division 1-1
San Francisco 49ers  3-5                   Division 0-3
Seattle Seahawks      3-6                   Division 1-1

While the Rams have a shot at winning some of their remaining games, they will need to defeat the 49ers twice and win their remaining game against both the Cardinals and the Seahawks. That is a difficult enough task and one that the LA Rams must accomplish this year.