The 49ers’ 2026 season is starting unlike any other in franchise history, with an opening game nearer to the South Pole than Candlestick Park.
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While the setting — the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia’s second-most populous city — is new, the opponent is quite familiar: The 49ers are the road team — and 3 1/2-point underdogs against the Los Angeles Rams, their longtime NFC West rivals.
Coach Kyle Shanahan and his LA counterpart Sean McVay have long been connected from their days as assistants on Washington’s offensive coaching staff in the early 2010s under Shanahan’s father, Mike.
One familiar Rams face won’t be in the stadium with 100,000 screaming fans, though: Aaron Donald, signed back to the Rams after a two-year retirement, did not make the trek across the Pacific as he gets fully up to speed.
Still, the 49ers will have to contend with his new superstar partner on the defensive line, Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning defensive player of the year acquired by the Rams this offseason.
For the 49ers, they do have a pair of injury returns on their roster: George Kittle and Nick Bosa are expected to play. Kittle tore his Achilles tendon in a wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles in January, while Bosa tore his ACL midseason. Fred Warner, who nearly made a triumphant return in the playoffs from a gruesome ankle injury earlier last season, will also be back.
As the Giants did six months ago, the 49ers are playing their first game of the season on Netflix. But Bay Area locals will be able to watch it on NBC, as well.
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