Despite only being in week three, both teams have suffered a host of injuries to key players with Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel both out for the 49ers whilst the Rams are missing Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp from their offense. 

The Rams have had the worst possible start to the season losing in overtime to the Detroit Lions in week one before a 41-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in week two.

The 49ers opened their 2024 season with a 32-19 win over the New York Jets before a surprise 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in week two. 

Team news

Los Angeles Rams

Tight end Davis Allen and wide receiver Cooper Kupp are both ruled out of the game for the Rams, whilst kicker Joshua Karty, cornerback Cobie Durant and nose tackle Bobby Brown III are all listed as questionable. 

Steve Avila, Jonah Jackson, John Johnson, Derion Kendrick, KT Leveston, Conor McDermott, Larell Murchison, Puka Nacua, Joe Noteboom, Tre Tomlinson and Darious Williams all remain on Injured reserve whilst Tyler Higbee remain on the PUP list. 

San Francisco 49ers

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel has been ruled out of the game with a calf injury, cornerback Charvarius Ward and defensive end Nick Bosa are both listed as questionable and tight end George Kittle is doubtful after not training all week with a hamstring injury. 

Kalia Davis, Jon Feliciano, Christian McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell and Ambry Thomas are all on IR whilst Dre Greenlaw and Drake Jackson stay on the PUP list and rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall remains on the non-football injury list. 

Key players 

Jauan Jennings 

Due to the absence of Deebo Samuel and the potential absence of George Kittle the 49ers a looking light in the receiving department, combine this with the fact that number one wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is still getting up to speed after holding out all off season the opportunity arises for Jennings to be their main man on Sunday against an injury hit Rams team. 

Jennings is third only to Kittle and Samuel in receiving yards this season with 101 yards through two games. 

Jennings also has one more catch than Aiyuk on one less target as well as 30 more receiving yards than Aiyuk. 

The Rams defence also gave up over 100 yards and a touchdown to a receiver in consecutive games to start the season. Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams had five receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown in week one against the Rams before Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrisson Jr. went for 130 yards and two touchdowns on four catches. 

Colby Parkinson 

Like the 49ers, the Rams are also a couple of bodies light in the receiver room. Tyler Higbee started the season on the PUP list after tearing his ACL against the Lions in January, whilst star receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp have both suffered injuries in the first two weeks that is set to make them miss some time with Nacua on IR and Kupp an IR candidate. 

So who does Matthew Stafford make his number one target? Tyler Johnson and DeMarcus Robinson are second and third behind Kupp in targets, catches and receiving yards this season but both are seen as more of a deep threat and with a depleted o-line Stafford isn’t seeing the opportunity for those types of plays. 

With that, Parkinson looks set for a larger role in the Rams offense. The former Seahawks tight end has started the season with five catches on seven targets for 59 yards. 

Parkinson may be the Rams best way to have an efficient offense by getting the ball out quickly. 

Whether it’s Parkinson or someone else the Rams need to find a way to be efficient on offense because the Rams running game is struggling at the moment with Kyren Williams only managing 75 yards and 2.5 yards a carry through the first two games. 

Head to Head 

The San Francisco 49ers have had the better of the Rams in recent years with the 49ers winning 9 of their last 11 games against the Rams. The 49ers also lead the series 78-69-3.

The Rams won 21-20 last time out in week 18 of the 2023 season but both teams rested their starters ahead of the postseason. 

The Rams only other win in the 11 game stretch against the 49ers was in the NFC Championship game in 2022 with the Rams winning the game 20-17 and going on to win the Lombardi Trophy against the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Where and when

The game takes place at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 22. The action gets underway at 4:25pm ET in the US and 9:25pm BST in the UK. 

How to watch 

The game will be broadcast live on FOX in the US, whilst UK fans can watch on the DAZN game pass.