Rams' Les Snead: Week 18 vs. 49ers 'Meaningless Loss But it Did Still Sting'

Snead recently discussed the week 18 loss to the 49ers on Basketball and Beyond.

Author:
Connor Zimmerlee
Publish date:
Mar 8, 2022 4:02 PM EST

Prior to the NFC Championship game, the San Francisco 49ers had consistently been a thorn in the side of the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams had lost six straight games to San Francisco before finally beating them to win the NFC and advance to the Super Bowl.

Rams GM Les Snead was recently on Mike Krzyzewski's "Basketball and Beyond" where he discussed how much the week 18 49ers loss affected him, even after they had clinched the NFC West title.

Tyler Higbee

Matthew Stafford

Matthew Stafford

“We lost Week 18 of this year and we had won the NFC West championship,” Snead said on the show. “But that loss, because it was San Fran, it hurt more than any loss I’ve ever been a part of. And it was really a meaningless loss – not meaningless, but it didn’t really affect the math or our NFC West championship or anything like that. But it did still sting and we still had work to do.”

While it is easy to understand Snead's perspective, as losing six straight times to a rival is not what anyone wants, what can be said is they were finally able to get over the hump against the 49ers when it mattered most en route to winning Super Bowl LVI.

Now, following the events of a wild Tuesday across the NFL landscape, the Rams sit as heavy favorites in the NFC West.

And perhaps to represent the NFC in next year's Super Bowl as well.