GETTY Matthew Stafford #9 of the Los Angeles Rams reacts during the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers.
The San Francisco 49ers faithful travel far and wide, but they brought the numbers to Los Angeles this past Sunday.
The Niners took on the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium needing a win to clinch a Wild Card spot, while the Rams were looking to ensure a NFC West title. Los Angeles still got the title thanks to the Seattle Seahawks beating the Arizona Cardinals, but the 49ers walked away victorious after a dramatic 27-24 win.
As we’ll get into below, photos and videos from the game seemed to show an overwhelming amount of 49ers fans at SoFi, with players even saying afterward that there were more San Francisco supporters than Los Angeles fans.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford somewhat alluded to this during an interesting comment in the postgame press conference. When speaking to media members, Stafford claimed the second-half atmosphere at SoFi was “tough.”
“We had a chance there at the end of the game. I thought our guys did a good job communicating,” Stafford said per Rams Wire. “It was a tough environment for us to communicate in, really, the whole second half. Our guys did a nice job and we got that lead back. Just didn’t finish it the way we can on offense and could’ve – had we gotten a first down there, the game probably would’ve been over.”
It’s rare for a player to say that they were having communication issues at their home stadium, but Stafford typically plays it straight when opening up after the game.
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George Kittle, Deebo Samuel Speak on SoFi
Two of the 49ers most prominent stars, tight end George Kittle and wide receiver Deebo Samuel both commented on the environment as well. For the latter, Samuel is convinced SoFi Stadium had artificial crowd noise pumped in.
“I feel like the Rams pump noise because there wasn’t that many Rams fans there,” Deebo said per Nick Wagoner.
That’s a bold claim from Deebo to say the least, but considering Stafford’s quote and what Kittle had to say, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Matt Barrows reported that Kittle thought at least 60 percent of the crowd were San Francisco fans. Barrows attended the game via the press box and believes that it was closer to 80 percent.
Either way, it’s clear that the presence of the faithful caused issues for the 49ers on Sunday.
49ers Fans in Los Angeles
As one might expect, the traveling fanbase took plenty of photos and videos of the day at SoFi. As one can see in the video below, there’s a significant amount of red.
Reporters, like Barrows above, concurred that it seemed like the 49ers had a bigger presence in the stands, including NBC Sports Matt Maiocco.
“I’m not sure if this can be right,” Maiocco tweeted. “But it looks as if there are more #49ers fans here at SoFi Stadium than Rams fans. There’s a lot of red in the stands.”
A lot of red at SoFi Stadium.
Whether the Niners faithful actually outnumbered the home crowd will be impossible to properly prove, but the images, videos and comments from the game seem to back up the idea.
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Rams Star Sounds Off 49ers Fans at SoFi Stadium: ‘Tough Environment’