49ers take shot at Rams’ crowd issues, will wear home jerseys

It certainly looked like the San Francisco 49ers got the short end of the stick when NFL schedule-makers gave them back-to-back road games to start their season — until you saw their Week 2 opponent: the Los Angeles Rams.

Niners fans famously took over SoFi Stadium during the 2022 NFC Championship Game — which the 49ers lost, 20-17 — forcing the Rams to use a silent count in their own stadium. Even Rams coach Sean McVay had to admit, “There was a lot of red there. That was definitely a surprise.” Ahead of last year’s matchup in Los Angeles, San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan went as far as to call it “one of the coolest things I’ve seen in sports.”

This year, San Francisco is not so subtly acknowledging the Rams’ inability to fill their own stadium. Despite being the visiting team, the Niners will wear their red jerseys Sunday, as they do for all home games.

Week 2 wouldn’t be the first time this season the Niners overtook an away stadium though. While the Yinzers left to beat the traffic of a blowout Steelers loss in Week 1, a sea of red and gold remained throughout the stands of the stadium formerly known as Heinz Field. Defensive end Nick Bosa took it as a sign of things to come.

“It’s great. I think we have the best traveling fan base overall. Pittsburgh was impressive, and I think we’ll take over LA,” Bosa said in a classic business-first monotone.

Which, according to Shanahan, is more than just an embarrassment for the Rams.

“Home-field advantage is a big deal in the NFL because of crowd noise, and when you don’t have to worry about that as much on the road, it’s huge,” the Niners coach said. “And when you actually can get the crowd noise, it doesn’t happen very much, but it’s a big deal.”

It certainly helps that the 49ers have had the Rams’ number in the regular season for some time now. San Francisco is on an eight-game winning streak against Los Angeles, with the last regular-season loss coming in 2018. Shanahan will look to make it nine straight Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Pacific.