Shanahan blasts Rams' Australia game request, demanding league fairness and a Mexico matchup for the 49ers rivalry.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is not known for cynicism. He was cynical this week.
Shanahan dropped quite the take on the 49ers' top NFC rival. It appears that he does not take kindly to the Los Angeles Rams getting to face the Niners in Australia. The San Francisco head coach made his opinion know to NBC Sports in a bold proclamation about the rival Rams.
“I know for a fact (the Rams pushed for Australia). Hopefully, the league will do right and let us play the Rams in Mexico since we got to go out of the country twice. They requested us... I'm requesting them in Mexico. Not that it gives us an advantage, but it's just fair to make them go out of the country twice, too.
I get that, that would suck to have to do silent cadence and to have our home game at their stadium. So, I get their ambitions.”
The Niners of course have been known to take over opposing stadiums. The vast San Francisco fanbase is nationwide, so it's easy to envision opponents not being crazy about welcoming the team into their stadium. However, in Los Angeles in particular, Niners nation is more than capable of taking over. To Shanahan, perhaps that is the greatest concern for the Rams.
In a matchup and division as competitive as the Niners are in, you would like to see the game played in California either way. Still, you can't fault the Rams for wanting to avoid adding a de facto away game in addition to the trip to San Francisco in the same season.
What seems clear is that the matchup will have significant ramifications on not only the NFC West division but the entire NFC. The Niners significantly upgraded at wide receiver with Mike Evans and Christian Kirk along with several other impact additions. The Rams likely won't be going away any time soon. With the Seattle Seahawks seemingly underachieving, it's not hard to envision the Niners and Rams being the top teams in the NFC next season.
The global plans of the NFL may seem confounding to many, but they have yielded positives in playing games overseas. Even so, it's fair to want to reward local fans with games they can see in person.
The Rams and Niners will get set for an important set of games in their 2026 campaign.