Rams panic meter: Is it time to freak out after Week 1 disaster vs. 49ers in Australia?

The Los Angeles Rams were the clear favorites to win Super Bowl LXI before they started their season in Australia against the rival San Francisco 49ers. The Rams are supposed to be the dominant team in the NFL as they added Myles Garrett in the offseason from the Cleveland Browns and overpowering defensive lineman Aaron Donald came out of retirement to play with what could be a memorable team.

The team did not set a tone for a championship season in their season opener in Melbourne as they were handled with relative ease in a 27-7 defeat. The Rams had been questioned for their strategic decision to arrive down under with just 28 hours to get used to their new environment. On the other hand, the 49ers had a week before the Rams so their bodies could get used to being 16 time zones away from the Pacific coast.

It was a poor effort by the Rams and there are many observers who believe that head coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford may not be able to recover from the defeat. The decision to fly over so late in the process almost certainly put the Rams in a big hole.

The belief here is that McVay was not surprised with the way his team adjusted to playing football down under and that he really didn’t care very much. A 17-game season is a long time for a team to show how well it can play and that it can still be a dominant team.

Rams had other priorities besides showing off in Australia

McVay and the Rams did not want to make the season opener the focus of the team’s preparation for the 2027 season. He knows the team has much bigger things to accomplish than promoting NFL football Down Under. That may have been commissioner Roger Goodell’s goal — but it had little to do with what the Rams wanted to accomplish.

The Rams are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. They are depending on Stafford to play to his talent level and let him use his experience to guide the team consistently. He may have struggled in completing 15 of 25 passes for 155 yards with no touchdowns and 1 interception, but that will have little to do with what happens next. Stafford has excellent weapons in wideouts Puka Nacua and Davante Adams along with running backs Blake Corum and Kyren Williams. There is little doubt that Stafford will find a way to rebound as the season progresses.

Season-opening loss was a fluke

The defense will be in a position to dominate most weeks. They will have 11 days to prepare for their return in Week 2 when they host the New York Giants in a Monday night game. The nation will see a different Rams team in that game, one that will be starting its climb up the NFL ladder.

It is not easy to fly 7,921 miles to play a football game. It is not easy to fly back home after that game. The Niners may have taken the game more seriously than their rivals, but it may take them a bit longer to get used to being back home.

The Rams will be prepared for the rest of the 2027 season. This was a flukish game in a strange environment. There is no reason for the team or their fans to freak out.