NFL Power Rankings: How Far Have Rams Risen After Beating the 49ers?

Jeremy Hanna | 3 Hours Ago

Sep 22, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) celebrates as he leaves the field after defeating the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Rams' comeback victory against the San Francisco 49ers was truly a sight to behold.

Despite proving dominant through the first three quarters, the reigning NFC champions were unable to contain quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Kyren Williams, who rushed for 89 yards and two touchdowns. Williams also recorded 27 receiving yards and an additional touchdown.

Naturally, this has prompted a massive boost for the Rams in power rankings across multiple outlets.

Eric Edholm of NFL.com had the Rams leap forward six places to 19th overall, noting that this was a season-saving win for Los Angeles.

"There’s a ton of football left between now and the postseason, and a lot of big challenges are still to come in a tough schedule, but in a one-week-at-a-time league with few transcendent teams to this point, Sean McVay’s squad can’t be counted out," Edholm said.

Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports put the Rams in a similar position, ranking them 18th in the league. However, he gave all the credit to Williams.

"Kyren Williams is all the Rams' offense has left. Williams had 26 touches in a Week 3 win while no other Ram had more than four," Schwab said. "His three touchdowns were the difference vs. San Francisco. He can expect to carry the offense for at least a few more weeks."

Sarah Barshop of ESPN also put the Rams at 18th overall, complimenting Los Angeles for their perseverance while also showing worry for consistency.

"The offense showed fight and improvement late against the 49ers, but finding consistency will be a tall task until [Puka] Nacua, [Cooper] Kupp, and several starters on the offensive line can return," Barshop said.

Josh Kendall of The Athletic had Los Angeles move up seven places to 19th, saying that the biggest surprise was that the Rams won at all.

"The Rams, who didn’t have Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, and half their offensive line because of injury, had a 3.2 percent chance to win this game at one point in the fourth quarter," Kendall said. "Then they scored three times in the final 6:15."

Kendall also had compliments for Williams, particularly for plugging along "amid all the chaos in L.A."

Finally, Noah Camras of Newsweek Sports put the Rams at 20th, improving from 24th in Week 2, only saying that the 49ers should have won that game.

While the win has proven to be a massive boost for the Rams, the loss didn't seem to really affect people's opinion of the 49ers.

Despite being 1-2, San Francisco remained in the Top 10 for a majority of the experts listed here. The only exceptions were NFL.com and The Athletic, which had the 49ers at 12th and 13th respectively.

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