The Rams are still fairly new to Los Angeles after returning to the city in 2016, so they’re building a fanbase on the West Coast after spending 21 years in St. Louis. They expected to develop a home-field advantage once SoFi Stadium opened in Inglewood, but that hasn’t necessarily been the case.
They certainly didn’t have any sort of edge against the 49ers on Sunday afternoon in the season finale. 49ers fans came out in droves at SoFi Stadium, seemingly outnumbering Rams supporters in attendance. The Rams offense noticed it, with Matthew Stafford admitting after the game that it was tough for them to communicate despite being at home.
“We took the lead late. Had a chance,” Stafford said. “Obviously, didn’t end the game with the ball like we could’ve. We had a chance there at the end of the game. I thought our guys did a good job communicating. 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.”
When asked about how many 49ers fans there were in the stands, Stafford said, “they did a nice job showing, that’s for sure.”
It’s not exactly encouraging to see so many fans of the opponent in attendance, but 49ers backers always travel well, especially for West Coast games. Cardinals fans shouldn’t have the same effect next weekend when the Rams host Arizona at SoFi Stadium, but it definitely impacted the offense on Sunday.
[listicle id=662315]