49ers, Rams put travel to test in season-opening showdown in Australia

One side will be proven right.The other, wrong.It’s only the natural conclusion that we — and likely 30 other teams around the NFL — can draw from the competing travel strategies taken by the 49ers and Rams for this 8,000-mile excursion.While Kyle Shanahan was wrapping up the 49ers’ third and final full practice at AAMI Park, next to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, Sean McVay and his team were just taking off from LAX.The Rams will have been on the ground in the outback for about 24 hours when they kick off the season Thursday night (Friday morning local time).

The Niners will have been there a full week.The contrasting choices have captivated the sleep and science communities, and the attention of an increasingly global sports ecosystem will be on which theory of the case proves correct.As the NFL expands its international slate — a record nine games this season spread across seven countries on four continents — the 49ers and Rams are traveling farther than any teams before them.It’s not only a meeting of NFC West rivals; it’s a case study.Of course, there’s more that will go into determining the outcome in a matchup of two of the NFL’s smartest coaches and most talented teams.

The juggernaut of a roster the Rams have assembled are heavy Super Bowl favorites and favored to win this one by about 3 ½ points. But if they are able to pull out a win, if Matthew Stafford isn’t bleary-eyed and Myles Garrett gets after Brock Purdy like he would back home, well, expect the rest of the NFL to take note.The 49ers are taking the traditional route, if there was one for a first-of-its-kind season-opener on a continent that’s never previously hosted an NFL game.They flew in a week ahead of kickoff, adapted to the 17-hour time difference and ingrained themselves in the community.These games are as much a promotional arm for the NFL as anything else, so that’s how teams have typically attacked them in the past, including San Francisco’s past trips to...