Two of the most storied professional football programs that have struggled for a decade will get together this afternoon in Santa Clara.

The 1-1 Rams play the 0-2 San Francisco 49ers at 5:25.

Both teams feature young rookie coaches hired to turn their franchises around.

Sean McVay of the Rams and Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers come from football families and have excellent offensive minds.

Last Sunday at the Coliseum, the Rams continued to look like to the Washington Redskins 27-20.

The good news is the Rams have scored 66 points two games. The bad news is they surrendered 229 yards on the ground.

The Rams only gained 92 yards rushing, 88 by Todd Gurley on 16 carries.

“Give credit to Washington,” said Coach McVay. “They made the plays they had to make.

“I give credit to our team because even though we fell behind early, we continued to fight back.”

The Rams scored 20 points in the last three quarters to tie the game.

But quarterback Jared Goff’s untimely interception in the last minutes was the difference.

Being picked off  “was a tough way to end,” said Goff, who emphasized his reammates’ resilience. “We know we have enough weapons to fight back as long as we execute. We need to fight through adversity.”

After the 49ers, the Rams stay on the road. They go to Dallas on Sunday, Oct. 1, playing the Cowboys at 10 a.m. on Fox (channel 11).

Their next Coliseum game is Sunday, Oct. 8, against Seattle at 1 (Channel 2).

Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley5@aol.com