With a shocking upset of the Green Bay Packers, the Jimmy Garoppolo led 49ers are headed to Los Angeles for an NFC Championship matchup with the Rams. 

With just 131 passing yards and an interception (ProFootballReference.com), Garoppolo struggled mightily against the Packers. Luckily for San Francisco, a great defensive performance, combined with poor Green Bay special teams play, resulted in a close victory. 

According to ESPN’s FPI (Football Power Index), the Rams have a 59.4% chance to reign triumphant, but history suggests different. In the last six matchups between the two squads, the Rams have been unable to pull away with a single victory, dating all the way back to October of 2019 (FootballDB.com).

However, the 2021-22 Rams are a very different team than they were over two years ago. Since their last victory, the Rams have acquired Odell Beckham Jr., Matthew Stafford, Von Miller, Cam Akers, Jalen Ramsey, and so many more impactful players. With that being said, we are yet to witness any of those players make a large enough impact to yield a difference in the scoreline in any of the previous matchups. 

Although the Rams are yet to find success against their rival, including their two regular season matchups this year, there is still some hope for a team that has acquired a lot but profited little. The 49ers’ offense played poorly in their Divisional showdown with Green Bay. In contrast, the Rams offense played pretty well against the Buccaneers, as they were able to put up 30 points despite their lone mistake of fumbling the football four times. Both defenses played fairly well. The Rams held Tom Brady to just three points in the first half but almost blew the game in the fourth quarter, allowing 24 points in the final 18:02 of the game (ESPN.com). The 49ers’ played a stronger second half then first, but no matter how you slice it, allowing 10 total points in a playoff game is astounding. 

With both rosters compared, one can see why this matchup is predicted to be a good one. The major worry that I see in the 49ers capability of winning this game is the quarterback position. As mentioned earlier, Garoppolo had a bad outing against Green Bay. As this could very well end up being a defensive showdown for the ages, I do not see the 49ers offense being able to muster up enough power to top the Matthew Stafford lead Rams. While Jimmy Garoppolo could prove us all wrong, it is safe to say that he has not been the storybook QB that the 49ers want, and need, to be able to advance to another Super Bowl.