You certainly can put the right or wrong foot forward on the path to the championship. Swamping the preseason favorite in Australia like the San Francisco 49ers did is about the best start possible, while losing to a team in the mix for the No. 1 draft pick a la the Los Angeles Chargers will instill zero confidence in one's ability to compete for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Week 1 is ripe for overreactions.
Some takeaways will age poorly. What if they carry over into Week 2, though? What if the 49ers continue their hot start and take further command of the NFC West?
What if the Chargers drop another game to a perceived bottom-dweller? The conversations about their respective trajectories will only grow stronger. Each week this season, we will take a snapshot of the Super Bowl race and determine which teams are trending up, which are trending down, and which upcoming games will shake up the title race.
Here is the Super Bowl stock report heading into Week 2. Maybe they are not fully healthy, but even with Alfred Collins on injured reserve, Mykel Williams on the PUP list and De'Zhaun Stribling set to miss at least a month, the 49ers are far closer to full strength now than they were at essentially any point in 2025. The issue with this team has never been talent but rather the ability to keep it on the field.
For now, at least, the 49ers have enough tools in their belt. The 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Australia was not just a wire-to-wire beatdown. It was also a statement to the entire NFC.
The assumption is that the team that emerges as the NFC West champion will represent the entire conference in the Super Bowl. After one week, the 49ers look like the strongest team in football's most loaded division. That is saying a lot, considering the reigning Super Bowl champions and a Rams team that just about everyone thought would cruise to the postseason.
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