49ers fans had one of their strongest Los Angeles takeovers ever

The 49ers’ takeover of SoFi Stadium, the purported home of the Los Angeles Rams, has become an annual tradition for fans of the red and gold. This year’s invasion might very well have been the strongest it’s ever been.

It certainly helped that the Niners were in their home uniforms — and took home the 30-23 win — but the crowd’s impact reached another level Sunday. The national broadcast had to acknowledge it, especially when the camera cut to a fan with a large sign that read “NINERS HOUSE.”

“He brought his own sign saying ‘NINERS HOUSE,’ and it kind of is,” Fox play-by-play announcer Kevin Kugler said. “You look around, and it’s kind of hard to miss the red in these stands.”

But it wasn’t just the optics. When Brandan Aiyuk went down early with what turned out to be a minor injury, the sea of red broke out into a loud “AI-YUK” chant that could have very easily rivaled anything at Levi’s Stadium. The Rams had to blow a timeout on their first drive because they couldn’t hear the play call. Every time Los Angeles was in a third or fourth-down situation, the crowd erupted. When Deebo Samuel scored his incredible touchdown, “DEE-BO” chants were heard. There was even a “BEAT L-A” chant going in the game’s final moments.

Reports from people in the stands talked about the crowd as if it was indistinguishable from a Niners home game.

The Niners themselves didn’t let this go unnoticed. George Kittle was given social media video duties as he was walking off the field, and complimented the crowd on his way to the locker room.

“Look at the faithful out here,” Kittle said. “Oh my god, it’s a sea of red! Wooo!”

“Aren’t they fantastic?” Kittle told reporters in the locker room. “Just so much red up there, gotta love it. That’s why I get surprised sometimes about how loud it gets, when we’re on offense. I’m like ‘I don’t think it should be that loud,’ but, you know what, it is what it is. We made plays, we needed to make the plays, and our fans were with us every step of the way.”