Rams’ travel plan was a bust, never to be repeated

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 11: Sean McVay head coach of the Los Angeles Rams looks on in the fourth quarter of the NFL football game against San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 11, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Los Angeles Rams' travel plan for their game against the 49ers in Australia on Thursday proved a massive bust. LA's plan was risky from the start and should never be repeated by a team traveling to the continent again.

Both the Rams and 49ers had different strategies for going down under (hate how that was phrased, but I guess I'll allow it). San Francisco got there a week before the game, while Los Angeles arrived in Melbourne just over a day before kickoff. The Rams apparently thought they had figured out jet lag, consulting experts beforehand to figure out what to do.

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Regardless of the thought put into their plan, it failed mightily, with a humbling and embarrassing 27-7 final on the scoreboard once the clocks hit triple zeroes.

While no NFL team had ever traveled to Australia before this season, the Rams weren't strangers to the international scene. They should have known better, even if the destination was uncharted territory for the league.

In their previous three overseas games, the team was 3-0, including a win over the Jaguars in London last October, where they deployed a similar travel plan. That worked to perfection as they blew out the eventual AFC South champs by 28 points.

However, the Rams had an easier time on that trip in particular because they flew directly from Baltimore to London, since they played the Ravens the week before, according to ESPN. By doing that, LA cut an 11-hour flight to seven hours.

For those of you who don't know geography well - clearly the Rams' coaching staff didn't - Melbourne, Australia is quite a trek from the West Coast. The flight was over double what the team flew from Baltimore to London. To illustrate how baffling the plan was from the get-go, new 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans had a priceless reaction upon learning when LA arrived.

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Putting a travel plan together is one thing, and executing it is another. Even with all the backing and research beforehand, all that added stress on the body from the extra-long flight clearly caught up with them. The Rams appeared sluggish throughout the game, and even an apparent super team couldn't overcome the added challenges.

When I flew to Hawaii from Chicago a few years ago, I felt incredibly off from the moment I stepped off the plane. So, I cannot imagine traveling as far as the Rams did and playing a football game in such a short window.

During his postgame press conference, Sean McVay said the plan wasn't the reason why the team didn't play well enough," even if it were easy to pin the blame.

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Hopefully the Rams learned something valuable about international travel following this debacle. One bone-headed travel plan shouldn't define the rest of the season. Being outclassed by a bitter rival right out of the gate is about the worst possible way to start a season, but LA still has a great team that should be fine once it returns to play on American soil.

The Rams served as guinea pigs for their travel plan to Australia in the opener and were on the wrong side of things. Unfortunately, LA is now the poster child for what not to do whenever the league plays in Australia next.