The San Francisco 49ers are just one win away from returning to the Super Bowl. They'll have to go through the Los Angeles Rams to get there. On Saturday night, the Niners won their third consecutive road game, a stunning 13-10 victory against the Green Bay Packers at a frigid Lambeau Field. They had to wait a day to learn who their next opponent would be.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Rams at Raymond James Stadium in the other NFC Divisional Playoff game but fell to the visiting NFC West champions by a score of 30-27.
That sets up a third 49ers-Rams matchup this season, with San Francisco winning the previous two. The 49ers won 31-10 in Week 10, and then again in Week 18—a thrilling 27-24 overtime victory that clinched the Bay Area team's playoff berth. In fact, Kyle Shanahan's squad has bested Sean McVay's six consecutive times.
That Week 18 matchup was also at SoFi Stadium, the home of Super Bowl LVI. That means the 49ers have a chance to win three games at SoFi Stadium this season.
"I'm glad that we're in a dome or in Tampa next week," Shanahan said after Saturday's game. "I think the rest of our team is too. That's no joke. It was fun [playing at Lambeau Field], it was a challenge, and next time we ever have to do it, we'll be up for it."
The Rams are reportedly trying to restrict ticket purchases by region, canceling and refunding any orders made from outside the greater Los Angeles region to prevent a repeat of 49ers fans taking over SoFi Stadium for the Week 18 matchup, which felt like a San Francisco home game. The only problem with that strategy is that the Los Angeles area has a significant number of Niner fans, many of which were at that regular-season finale.
The 49ers are appearing in the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three seasons and hope to return to the Super Bowl to avenge the loss in the big game two years ago.
Shanahan is 7-3 has a head coach when facing the Rams. Next weekend's game will be the first meeting in the playoffs between the two teams since they faced off in the NFC Championship Game following the 1989 season. That was their only other postseason meeting.
The NFC Championship Game is scheduled for Sunday, January 30 at 3:30 p.m. PT, and will be televised on FOX.