The Rams are hosting the NFC Championship game on Sunday, but if they’re going to make it to the Super Bowl, they’ll have to do something that’s never been done before: beat a team in a conference championship game after going 0-2 against them in the regular season.
The 49ers, for whatever reason, have had Los Angeles’ number in recent years, winning the last six in this series. They beat them in a Monday night game in the middle of the season, and they won in overtime at Los Angeles in Week 18, when the Rams had to win to guarantee themselves the NFC West title.
San Francisco ran the ball effectively in both of those games, and Jimmy Garoppolo passed for over 300 yards in the most recent meeting.
This will be the 19th time two teams from the same division have met in a conference championship. In the four others that a team went 2-0 against the other in the regular season, that team again won in the title game.
Three of those games, however, weren’t really quite like what we’ll see on Sunday. They featured a better team (a division champ) playing at home and looking to beat a wild-card team one more time. In this case, the Rams were the better regular-season team (with a better quarterback and a better regular-season record) but have had matchup issues against the 49ers’ scheme and personnel.
The more similar matchup to this one would come from 1999. That was the year the Jaguars went 14-2 but had problems with Tennessee, losing both of the regular-season meetings. The Titans then came to Jacksonville and won in the AFC title game. They won easily – 33-14 – before losing in the Super Bowl against the Rams.
Even that Tennessee team, however, can be only loosely compared to San Francisco. The present-day 49ers went only 10-7 in the regular season and have seemingly been getting hot at the right time. That 1999 Titans team on paper was more of a Super Bowl contender all along, having gone 13-3 in the regular season.
| DIVISION OPPONENTS MEETING IN TITLE GAMES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Loser | Score | Reg. Sea. |
| 1971 | at Dolphins | Colts | 21-0 | 1-1 |
| 1972 | at Washington | Cowboys | 26-3 | 1-1 |
| 1977 | at Broncos | Raiders | 20-17 | 1-1 |
| 1978 | at Steelers | Oilers | 34-5 | 1-1 |
| 1979 | at Steelers | Oilers | 27-13 | 1-1 |
| 1980 | at Eagles | Cowboys | 20-7 | 1-1 |
| 1980 | Raiders | at Chargers | 34-27 | 1-1 |
| 1982 | at Dolphins | Jets | 14-0 | 2-0 |
| 1982 | at Washington | Cowboys | 31-17 | 0-1 |
| 1983 | at Raiders | Seahawks | 30-14 | 1-1 |
| 1985 | Patriots | at Dolphins | 31-14 | 1-1 |
| 1986 | at Giants | Washington | 17-0 | 2-0 |
| 1989 | at 49ers | Rams | 30-3 | 1-1 |
| 1992 | Bills | at Dolphins | 29-10 | 1-1 |
| 1999 | • Titans | at Jaguars | 33-14 | 2-0 |
| 2008 | at Steelers | Ravens | 23-14 | 2-0 |
| 2010 | Packers | at Bears | 21-14 | 1-1 |
| 2013 | at Seahawks | 49ers | 23-17 | 1-1 |
| 2021 | at Rams | 49ers | ?-? | 0-2 |
—Ian Allan