Who's Going To Win Out Of The 49ers And Rams In Australia?

A week from today, we'll be two games into the 2026 NFL season. We'll know the outcomes of the opener between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots as well as the first-ever NFL regular season fixture to be played in Australia.

I've been keen to see how both the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams approach both sides of their Melbourne clash. 

Going in, I feel the 49ers have the pre-preparation locked down contrasted to their opponents'. That's because Kyle Shanahan and his team have already landed Down Under. The Rams, according to speculation, could be making their journey a day before the game kicks off.

What are the current lines for the 49ers versus Rams?

With the 49ers already becoming acclimatised to Australia, I have considered backing them against the spread. As of the time of writing, they're underdogs with an appealing +3.5 I especially like seeing the hook.

The lines have changed since earlier this year. And not in the direction I envisioned.

The Rams started out as -2.5 favourites. The consensus is seemingly going with the team that should have travel working against them next Friday morning (Aussie time!).

To close out this post, I'd like to share with you everything I wrote about the game in this year's edition of Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual. 

Here's what you'll find in the section about the showdown in Oz.

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San Francisco 49ers versus Los Angeles Rams Betting Insight

The opening International Series game of the 2026 season will be a first experience for NFL followers when the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams meet on the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.

With an approximate local kick off time of 10:35am on Friday 11^th September, the fixture will be beamed to the US at around 8:35pm ET and 5:35pm PT on Thursday night which is 1:35am Friday to those in the United Kingdom & Ireland.

With this being a neutral game for both teams, despite the Rams being designated as the home side, the only head-to-head table worth looking at is the overall record since the mid-90s.

How the 49ers .vs. Rams Games Have Gone Since the 1990s

The 49ers have strong numbers from these meetings with their NFC West division rivals. They’ve accumulated an overall straight up record of 38-24-1 (60%) and one of 38-23-2 (62%) against the spread.

As you’ll see in the table, the 49ers’ ATS edge is from covering 21-11-2 (66%) as underdogs but also recording a 17-11 (61%) win-loss as favourites.

The Over-Under is 30-33 (52% to the Under) overall from the Rams versus 49ers meetings in the period between ’95 and last season.

The 49ers and Rams International Series Records

The 49ers and Rams have played a combined nine games as part of the NFL’s expansion into foreign markets.

San Francisco have so far recorded four regular season fixtures outside of the USA. Two more will be added by season’s end because, as well as this trip to Australia, the 49ers will travel to a country they’ve played a couple of times before.

The first foreign game on the list isn’t regarded as an official ‘NFL International Series’ contest. However, the 49ers played a Week 4 game – of the 2005 regular season – from Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca in front of a then-record 103,467 spectators.

San Francisco lost 14-31 to the three-point favourite Arizona Cardinals in what was the NFL’s first regular season game played outside of the United States.

It was the 49ers’ only loss - and failed cover - so far from their regular season journeys to far-off places.

In 2010, they met the Denver Broncos for a Week 8 battle from Wembley Stadium. The final score was 24-16. The spread was -2.5.

Three years later, in another Week 8 Wembley fixture, San Francisco obliterated the Jacksonville Jaguars 42-10 as -15.5 favourites.

Another 49ers versus Arizona game from Mexico City bookends the list.

Officially considered part of the ‘International Series’, a Monday Night Football game from Estadio Azteca, in Week 11 of the 2022 regular season, saw the 49ers win 38-10 as -10.5 favourites.

San Francisco are 3-1 (75%) straight up and 3-1 (75%) against the spread from the results of the four games.

The Over-Under record is also 3-1 (75% to the Over).

The Rams are 3-2 (60%) both straight up and against the spread from five International Series meetings.

With Wembley Stadium as the setting, a Week 8 2012 meeting between the Rams and Patriots concluded 45-7 in favour of the latter.

The Rams also lost and failed to cover in their next trip to London.

The New York Giants won by a touchdown in a 17-10 Twickenham Stadium clash during Week 7 of the 2016 season.

Twickenham was the venue of the Rams’ first regular season overseas victory when they shutout the Cardinals 33-0, as three-point favourites, a year later.

Two further wins have piled on in the years following the dominant performance from 2017.

First, there was a 24-10 score against the Bengals at Wembley Stadium in 2019 followed by a 35-7 rout of the Jags, also at Wembley, last season.

Los Angeles were -12 and -3 favourites for the two respective Wembley winners.

The Over-Under leans towards the Under with a record of 1-4 (80% to the Under). The only Over, from those four games, occurred from the result of the first trip - the Patriots’ 45-7 score exceeded a totals line of 46.

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That's just one example of the 272 game breakdowns found in Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2026.

You can order a copy online from Amazon or Other Booksellers.