That should be motivation enough, that first game we lost last year also lost us a playoff birth.
Regarding the Rams in general though, we've only beaten them something like 1 out of the last 5 times we've played. They've pretty much rolled us when it counted the past few years. I'm basically all addicted to kool-aid but people saying it's going to be easy haven't been paying attention.
Regarding your second point, they're the same teams but face different problems than they're used to.
For Seattle, after winning a SB, it's really hard to win games the next year. Everyone treats it like the biggest game of the year against them. Every week man. Our team doesn't have to deal with that, even with our record. Every prime time game, which are many after winning a SB, every single player wants to flash and show something. It's not that surprising to me and I still think they'll be there at the end of the year. We still have to play them twice and they're going to want to kill us after last year.
SF though is inexplicable to me. They're showing exactly what they showed in preseason, which is weird, an inability to put up points. Kaep can spin a ball, can run, has great velocity, but I'm starting to doubt his ability to process information. They have major weapons on offense. Major. Alex Smith utilized those weapons. Say what you want about Smith and Kaeps ceiling being higher, but he was cerebral and knew where his players where. I honestly don't think Kaep does. I believe dudes are open and he has no clue. That, and their offensive line sucks ass.
I don't expect the 49ers to contend in this division. But Seattle is still a force. The Rams may be tougher than the 49ers.
