The 49ers and Rams are headed in opposite directions.
San Francisco is enjoying its first 3-0 start in two decades. Los Angeles, on the other hand, now sits at 3-2 on the young season after losing a 30-29 heartbreaker in Seattle on Thursday night, marking the Rams' second consecutive defeat.
In Week 4, Los Angeles was embarrassed at home, losing 55-40 to the visiting Buccaneers. You might recall the 49ers went into Tampa in Week 1 and left with a 31-17 victory.
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They might be headed in opposite directions right now, but soon they'll converge. The Rams host the 49ers in a Week 6 divisional matchup, and if San Francisco manages to remain undefeated this Monday night, that becomes about as close to a "must-win" game for the Rams as you can have at this point in the season for a team that entered it as a prohibitive favorite.
Let's assume the 49ers beat the Browns to improve to 4-0. A win over the Rams in Week 6 would then provide San Francisco with considerable breathing room over the incumbent division winner, as Los Angeles would then be sitting at 3-3 on the season and 0-2 against the NFC West. Meanwhile, the 49ers would be 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the division, with arguably their toughest divisional game behind them.
That's a scenario the Rams truly want to avoid, and one they might not be able to dig themselves out of.
Moving forward, the Rams would still have two divisional road games, as well as games in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Dallas, none of which is an easy environment to prevail in. Chicago and Baltimore will also visit Los Angeles consecutively in Weeks 11 and 12. The Seahawks, who just beat the Rams, visit in Week 14.
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The tail end of the 49ers' regular-season schedule gets quite challenging, but in the six weeks that follow their first encounter with the Rams, they'll play at home four times, with the two road games coming against lowly Washington and Arizona. Through four weeks, those cellar-dwellers have combined 0-7-1 record.
And clearly, the Rams shouldn't just be concerned about the 49ers, nor the other way around. Seattle has already beaten Los Angeles (albeit by the slimmest of margins), and now sitting at 4-1, the Seahawks certainly look like they'll figure into the division race.
If San Francisco loses to Cleveland on "Monday Night Football," that would inevitably lessen the pressure on Los Angeles heading into Week 6. In fact, one could make the case the 49ers would "need' that win more than the Rams in the event of a loss to the Browns. That said, San Francisco is favored against Cleveland, and there's reason to believe they will match up well against the Browns and their porous offensive line.
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Having already played their Week 5 game, the Rams will have extra rest heading into Week 6, whereas the 49ers will have less than normal. Los Angeles doesn't have any say as to whether or not San Francisco will enter that game undefeated, but the Rams definitely can't afford to let the 49ers emerge from it that way.