Trash talk, a ticket blockade and a rivalry reborn: Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers meet for NFC title - San Francisco 49ers Blog- ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Los Angeles Rams could have ensured their opponent in Sunday's NFC Championship Game was anyone but the San Francisco 49ers.

But the Rams lost to their northern rivals 31-10 on Nov. 15 and 27-24 in the season finale on Jan. 9. And now, on the NFC's biggest stage, they must face a 49ers team that slipped into the playoffs with that Week 18 win — a 49ers team the Rams have lost to six straight times.

Even worse for L.A., history suggests beating the same team three times in one season is not as hard as it sounds. The same teams have met a third time on 22 occasions, with the winner of the first two matchups taking the third 14 times.

So it is that the 49ers and Rams will meet each other for the NFC title (6:30 p.m. ET, Fox) for the second time in postseason history. The 49ers beat the Rams 30-3 in the 1989 NFC Championship Game.

«I don't think there's many secrets,» Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said. «There are not many things we can surprise them with and same with them with us, which I think is kind of the most fun way. It'll be two really good teams and a really good football game where you can't really trick each other. You have to go out and beat somebody.»

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Four of the 49ers' victories during the current six-game streak have come as underdogs, a position San Francisco occupies again heading into Sunday.

Before their Week 18 game, Niners tight end George Kittle characterized the contest as «kind of a body-bag game» while attempting to explain how the winning team would have to exert its will on the opponent. Apparently, that became bulletin-board