How the 49ers sacrificed a loss to dominate the Rams

What an interesting move.

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The San Francisco 49ers had one of the toughest stretches of games for any team.

In the span of 11 games, they had to play three games, with two of them being division games. While 3-0 would have obviously been the best outcome, there is a real question as to whether this was the best outcome.

Did the San Francisco 49ers go all-in to beat the Los Angeles Rams?

San Francisco had two division games bookending a non-division, non-conference game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Time is a finite resource. The 49ers had to decide how much time to dedicate to the Cardinals, Jaguars, and Rams. If we are all being honest, there is one game that San Francisco may have taken a little less time to prepare for, and that is the Jaguars game. 

It is not retrospective to think this either; it was expected that San Francisco would struggle against Jacksonville and then play well against the Rams. 

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Did Brock Purdy play poorly against the Jaguars? Yes. Was the game plan a bit weaker than usual? That could certainly be argued just as strongly. 

Did Mac Jones play well against the Rams? Yes. Did it appear as though Shanahan had in-depth scouting reports with hours of film study on the weaknesses of each defender? It sure did. 

It is hard to watch the game we did and think that San Francisco was equally prepared for the Jaguars as they were for the Rams. So, it is a fair question for 49ers fans. 

Before the Cardinals game, if you were told that the 49ers would go 2-1 in this three-game stretch, and asked fans to pick the loss, they would choose the Jaguars game. This is about as good of an outcome as you can get, so whatever the 49ers did to prepare for each game worked. It is just hard to think that this game plan was put together on a short week, considering the stakes. 

What makes the assumption even more impressive is that San Francisco almost beat Jacksonville. They had a few ugly passes by an injured Purdy, and they allowed a punt return for a touchdown. Still, they were within one score of winning the game. 

Then, we saw a few days later what the team can do when they put their best foot forward. We will never know how much the 49ers prepared for each team, but we do know fans are much more forgiving of a flat performance against Jacksonville.