Why This Struggling 49ers Team Could Shock Everyone on Thursday Night Football

49ers vs. Rams, 8:15 ET

Thursday Night Football marks the start of Week 5, and this has been a fun season to this point. There have been lots of great moments, a lot of intrigue, and some very confusing overall performances from teams. There have been injuries to key players on a lot of teams, and some teams that looked great for a week or two now look like they might be average or worse. In tonight’s contest, we have the surprising 49ers taking on their divisional foes, the Los Angeles Rams.

The 49ers are 3-1 for the season, and that’s where the main surprise has come from. They won the season opener with Brock Purdy under center, heading into Seattle and taking the opener from them. This was the only game which San Francisco has been fully healthy this season. It seems like every week someone else is dropping for them. After Purdy played in the opener, he was able to come back for last week’s game against the Jaguars, but he will be out once again with a toe issue. That means the team turns to Mac Jones again. His stats are almost identical in two games to what Purdy has done with his productivity. Jones has actually been better in protecting the ball, given that he only has one interception, and Purdy has thrown four. What really needs to improve for the team is Christian McCaffrey getting some blocking. He is averaging just 3.3 yards per carry and hasn’t found the endzone on a rush yet this season. To make matters worse, the 49ers are going to be without Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings, their top two receivers for this game. That doesn’t mention that Nick Bosa on defense and George Kittle on offense are both on the injured reserve as well.