The Los Angeles Rams will be sitting a number of key starters when they play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Those players include quarterback Jared Goff, running back Todd Gurley, and defensive lineman Aaron Donald.
49ers players and coaches alike have expressed disappointment about going up against a Rams squad that will be far from full strength. After all, San Francisco is coming off of its most impressive win of the season – a 44-33 victory over the playoff-bound Jacksonville Jaguars, who had owned the league's top defense in points allowed.
The 49ers are red-hot going into Week 17. They have won four straight, five of their last six, and hope to end the season on a high note.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan joined KNBR on Friday morning and further discussed his disappointment about the Rams not playing all of their stars.
"I definitely wish they were playing their guys," Shanahan said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "It was nice when we started this three weeks ago to play three teams in a row that were playing for playoff births, and we had a goal to kind of treat it like our own time trying to get into the playoffs, hoping that we're in this situation next year.
"We were able to get those first two down and looking forward to this third one hoping that they were playing for a lot. We understand they're not. We're a little disappointed that they don't have all their guys out there but that's not going to change anything for us, and we're going to go out and be the exact same whether they were playing or they're not.
"I know they've got a bunch of good guys. I know guys like Aaron Donald, and Gurley, and people like that, it definitely helps that they won't be playing, but I know they've got a number of other guys on that roster.
"One thing that people don't realize is you only get to dress so many people on game day. So I don't care how many people you try to sit, you can't sit that many. You don't have enough people on your roster. I'm sure they'll get about three guys on each side of the ball but the way our rosters work, it's pretty hard to sit a number of guys."
The 49ers and Rams kick off at 1:25 p.m. PT on Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
You can listen to the entire interview with Shanahan below.
