Blowout win Would be Significant for 49ers in Week 16

The San Francisco 49ers' Week 16 clash with the Los Angeles Rams is an important one, though it does not have the significance of the regular-season finale with the Seattle Seahawks.

The San Francisco 49ers' Week 16 clash with the Los Angeles Rams is an important one, though it does not have the significance of the regular-season finale with the Seattle Seahawks.

If the Niners prevail in Week 17, they will win the NFC West courtesy of having the strength of victory tiebreaker over the Seahawks. If they are defeated by Seattle, then a prospective primetime win against the Rams would be rendered meaningless and the Niners will still be playing on the road on Wild Card weekend.

With that in mind, there may be some who believe the Niners would be better served by taking their foot off the gas versus Los Angeles to put them in the best possible shape to take on Seattle.

However, easing up is not in the DNA of this 49ers team and the fact remains that San Francisco's best path to a first-round bye is to win out. Doing so would remove any complex tiebreaker scenarios and secure the one seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Kyle Shanahan and his team will rightly see triumph as imperative in Week 16 but, for a team likely keen to get their best players some extra rest ahead of the trip to CenturyLink Field, the manner of victory may be just as important.

In each of the last three weeks, the 49ers have played out nail-biters that have come down to the last play and seen them expend a lot of energy.

Not since their 37-8 rout of the Green Bay Packers in Week 12 have the Niners enjoyed a game where they could afford to rest players in the fourth quarter. The opportunity to do that against the Rams could be potentially pivotal to their hopes of securing the top seed.

The Rams, clinging to their playoff lives but needing a lot of help to make the postseason, are unlikely to lie down, particularly in a divisional game. However, the 49ers already displayed they are the superior team this season with a dominant win in Los Angeles.

For the 49ers, Week 16 should be about getting back to winning ways and maximizing the opportunity to keep players fresh going into Seattle. To do that they need to take inspiration from their earlier throttling of the Rams and make an important game safe by the third quarter. Any win will do, but a blowout win would be especially significant for San Francisco.