NFL Thursday Night Football Best Bets: 49ers vs. Rams

The first international game of the 2026-2027 NFL campaign kicks off tonight, and the excitement is at an all-time high. Let's jump right into our best NFL Thursday Night Football bets for 49ers vs. Rams in Australia.

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Best Week 1 NFL Thursday Night Football Bets

(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)

Under 48.5 Points (-115)

The assumption is that these two high-powered offenses are set to light each other up. Aaron Donald will not be suiting up for Los Angeles in this contest. The 49ers also received some very unfortunate news that defensive tackle Alfred Collins will miss the entire season due to a knee injury.

Despite each team being down one body on the defensive line, we don't expect this game to be high-scoring. The flight to Australia alone brings tremendous uncertainty. It's surprising to see the total at 49 points, given the extreme traveling conditions.

In the first of two contests last season, the game went into overtime and finished 26-23 in favor of San Francisco. A repeat of overtime seems highly unlikely. Had this game been played on U.S. soil. We would easily take the over on the total of 49. Yet, it's just hard to think it will be business as usual for both teams after flying 17 hours to a different continent.

You could probably wait until midday to see whether the line moves at all. If it gets to 50, you definitely want to hold on to it as long as possible before kickoff to make this selection. You could be getting a total of 52 or more.

Over 3.5 Made Field Goals (-110)

Harrison Mevis and Eddy Pineiro were some of the most efficient kickers in the league last season. We don't expect as many touchdowns as the oddsmakers are suggesting, which subsequently means that there should be a fair amount of field goals attempted in this contest.

Again, we have no idea how traveling to a completely different continent will play out. If the offenses aren't as sharp as they normally would, we could get a few extra opportunities on field goals.

Pineiro finished the season going 28-of-29 on field goals. Mevis was just as reliable when called upon. The Rams kicker was 12-of-13 on field-goal attempts in nine games. Mevis knocked through five field goals over the last five games.

Pineiro is one of the most efficient kickers of all time, and will be heavily relied upon this season for San Francisco. He scored all 18 of the 49ers’ points in their last preseason contest against Las Vegas. He could very well meet this threshold on his own.

First Scoring Method: Field Goal (+130)

This is one we are just going for. It's a solid positive return on what has about a 60/40 chance of hitting. While we would rather be on the side of the 60%, 40% odds are not the worst.

Again, we are banking on two very capable offenses failing to cross the end zone on their first successful drive due to the strenuous travel conditions. It would be quite a surprise to see the two teams take the field and not be affected at all.

Eddie Pineiro and Harrison Mevis are extremely reliable at making field goals. If either one is called upon for a reasonable distance, chances are it's going through. San Francisco converted on 48% of third downs when in the red zone last season. This made it much more possible for the Niners to cross the goal line.

That kind of efficacy will be hard to replicate given the unorthodox setting of this contest. It's not difficult to envision either team going three-and-out from the 30-yard line and choosing to take the approach of putting points on the board rather than going for it on fourth down.

H2H Rushing Yards: Christian McCaffrey vs. Kyren Williams - Kyren Williams (+102)

This is a very surprising line considering the difference in matchups for both running backs. San Francisco doesn't have an offensive line that allows the team to have too much success on the ground.

The fact of the matter is, the Niners don't even have a true left guard. It will be an absolute nightmare for San Francisco if they try to rely more on the run than the pass. Christian McCaffrey averaged 3.9 yards per carry last season. That number could dip this season.

San Francisco also just lost Alfred Collins for the season, and the team has been scrambling - outright flying people to Australia over the past week. This doesn't bode well if they plan on stopping the Rams from running the ball.

Kyren Williams averaged 4.8 yards per carry and rushed for over 1,250 yards last season. Williams averaged 73.6 yards per game last season. The line for McCaffrey is barely over 60 yards for this contest. Albeit the favorite, it doesn't make much sense for McCaffrey to finish with more yards than Williams.