The rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams is one of the oldest in the NFC. Year after year, their matchups rank among the most intriguing of the week, and in 2025, each team won one game. The rivalry is felt on the field through players’ intensity and trash talk after every win.
Fred Warner hosted Puka Nacua on his podcast, and during their conversation, they discussed the rivalry between the teams. Nacua explained why he considers the 49ers the most formidable divisional opponent.
Puka Nacua Considers the 49ers The Toughest Divisional Rival To Play Against
The 49ers and Rams always deliver tightly contested matchups, and even when one team is in better form, the outcome is unpredictable. This season was the perfect example, with the 49ers traveling to SoFi Stadium on a short week and beating the Rams with a backup quarterback and without their three top receivers.
A big reason for this balance is that Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, who once worked together, share similar philosophies and know precisely how to prepare for and attack each other’s systems. The players embrace the rivalry on the field, but off the field, they maintain a respectful relationship, as Warner and Nacua showed on the 49ers linebacker’s podcast.
Warner asked the Rams wide receiver which team is the toughest to face in the NFC West, and without hesitation, Nacua replied, “100 percent it’s gonna be you guys.” He added that the weather in Santa Clara plays a role, referencing the rainy 2024 matchup.
Of the five games Nacua has played against San Francisco, the Rams have won three. It was also in a game against the 49ers, in Week 18 of the 2023 season, that he broke the rookie receiving yards record at the time, ending the campaign with 1,486 yards in that matchup.
Both Warner and Nacua were key figures when they met this season. Warner played only in the first meeting, but he was the one who shot through the Rams’ defensive line in overtime to stop Kyren Williams and seal the 49ers’ Week 5 victory.
Nacua, meanwhile, scored touchdowns in both games and was heavily involved in the offense in Week 5 and again in the Week 10 win. He ranks as the second-highest graded wide receiver on the PFSN WRi Meter with a score of 96.4, trailing only Seattle Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
The rivalry has been evenly balanced in recent meetings, with each team winning four. After the 49ers’ Week 5 victory, social media was filled with jabs calling the Rams’ stadium “Levi’s South,” and Nacua fired back later by mocking the 49ers’ traditional boombox entrance.
Even though this is one of the NFC’s fiercest rivalries, most players maintain a respectful rapport off the field, as Warner and Nacua showed on the podcast recorded for the 49ers linebacker’s YouTube channel. On the field, the rivalry ended the 2025 season in a draw.
