The San Francisco 49ers can't rush the passer without injured defensive end Nick Bosa. The Los Angeles Rams can't pass protect.
Meanwhile, LA has glaring weaknesses within its secondary. But the Niners have an abhorrently depleted receiver room that's almost incapable of taking advantage.
Usually, it's entertaining to discuss the "unstoppable force vs. immovable object" matchups for a game, especially if it's a primetime division rivalry bout between two opponents that hate each other.
However, for San Francisco's Thursday Night Football clash with Los Angeles in Week 5, fans may be subjected to which weakness might be less weak than the opposing weakness.
Ick.
Rams O-line can't block a non-existent 49ers pass rush
Granted, there'll be plenty of competitive storylines from Thursday night's NFC West showdown. But let's set the record straight about how the 49ers fared in their first full game without Bosa, a 26-21 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in which a Bosa-less pass rush registered exactly zero sacks and zero hits on quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
The last time the Niners posted such a line was way back in 2015. Ouch.
Turning the laughable meter up a notch, though, the Rams offensive line might be effective in run support this season, but it's horrendous in pass pro, ranked 31st by Pro Football Focus in this category after Week 4 after allowing two sacks and 23 pressures in last Sunday's win over the Indianapolis Colts.
It's been a season-long problem, too, with seemingly no end in sight. And this points to the battle in the trenches being an ugly one. Or boring. Or both.
49ers have no WRs to attack suspect Rams secondary
At this point, San Francisco fans have gotten used to the injury report reading like the credits at the end of a movie, and head coach Kyle Shanahan's wide receiver room has been hit particularly hard.
With Brandon Aiyuk not close to returning from last year's torn ACL and MCL, the 49ers are now dealing with injuries to both Ricky Pearsall (knee) and Jauan Jennings (ankle/shoulder/ribs), and both were subsequently ruled out for the contest.
As a result, Week 5's wide receiver depth chart might very well be this:
Kendrick Bourne
Demarcus Robinson
Skyy Moore
Russell Gage
Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Yikes.
Fortunately, at least for the Niners in this case, LA's secondary isn't exactly top-notch, particularly with veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon sidelined with a broken collarbone. And Los Angeles' reliance on fellow corner Emmanuel Forbes Jr. has been problematic with him allowing a perfect 158.3 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks targeting him over four starts thus far.
Too bad San Francisco doesn't exactly boast top-end pass catchers who can take advantage.
Either way, it'll be provocative and probably rather amusing to witness which weakness winds up being the least weak when these two NFC West rivals square up on Thursday Night Football on Oct. 2 at 8:15 p.m. ET from SoFI Stadium.