The 2026 season goes international for the first time in Week 1, as the 49ers and Rams christen the NFL's first regular-season game in Australia. Both teams went 12-5 a year ago, and both had their seasons ended by the same team — Seattle beat the Rams in the NFC Championship Game and routed the 49ers in the divisional round — so Thursday doubles as measuring-stick football before either has played a snap of it. 49ers at Rams kicks at 8:35 PM ET on Netflix, live from the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

San Francisco 49ers @ Los Angeles Rams | 8:35 PM ET | Netflix

The offseason turned the Rams' defensive line from a strength into a spectacle. Los Angeles sent Jared Verse to Cleveland in a trade for Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, then watched Aaron Donald end his retirement days later to line up next to him. Thursday's opener won't show either version of that pairing: Donald is out for load-management reasons and isn't in Australia at all, while Garrett, who missed chunks of camp and multiple practices this week with knee soreness, is playing on a coach's assurance rather than a clean bill of health. Sean McVay called him "ready to go," but a two-man renovation debuting as a one-man show is still an adjustment for a defense that hasn't snapped a ball together yet.

San Francisco's answer up front carries its own uncertainty. Left tackle Trent Williams, a 12-time Pro Bowler, anchors one side, but the 49ers have been rotating bodies at left guard all summer and still haven't settled the spot. Garrett lining up across from Williams is one problem; stunts and games through an unsettled interior are another, and that's true whether or not Donald ever gets there.

Health is the theme everywhere else, too. Christian McCaffrey is full-go after training camp tightness that had the 49ers managing his workload — reasonable caution after he logged 413 touches in 2025. Nick Bosa is playing through knee tendinitis as he continues working back from the ACL tear that limited him to three games last year, and George Kittle is active but on a managed workload as he returns from the Achilles injury that ended his 2025 season early. Mike Evans is expected to play through a groin strain. On the other side, Matthew Stafford arrives as the reigning NFL MVP off a career year — 4,707 yards, 46 touchdowns, just 8 interceptions — throwing to Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Both teams' 2025 seasons ended at the hands of the same team. Seattle beat the Rams 31-27 in the NFC Championship Game and routed the 49ers 41-6 in the divisional round, a reminder that the path through the NFC West still runs through the defending champions, and neither of these two has cleared it yet. The line sits at Rams -3.5, with the total at 48.5. San Francisco is buying an entire All-Pro's absence and getting only a field goal for it — that undersells a defense that still has Garrett and oversells an offensive line the 49ers haven't finished settling. Lean Los Angeles -3.5, and lean the over.

San Francisco wins if the interior line holds up well enough for Brock Purdy to work early downs, and McCaffrey's workload keeps Garrett off schedule before he can take over the game alone.

Los Angeles wins if Garrett's pressure shows up even without Donald next to him, and Stafford's continuity with Nacua and Adams travels overseas just fine.

Watch the left guard spot on San Francisco's first few series to see whether the rotation has actually resolved anything, and track Garrett's snap count for how much the knee is really limiting him. We'll be back later this week with picks across the rest of the Week 1 slate.