The NFL season kicks off with the Super Bowl rematch on Thursday, but the last few days in American sports media have been completely hijacked by the fascination surrounding the 49ers and Rams game in Melbourne.

This is because the two teams have taken polar opposite approaches to the challenge of flying to the other side of the planet, playing one of the most brutal sports in the world, and then flying back to continue their season the following week without a bye.

49ers players getting acclimatised in Melbourne.  Getty

San Francisco flew in eight days before the game, with their plan being to fully acclimatise to the Australian timezone and ingratiate themselves in the community to win over locals. The latter has largely been a success, with the 49ers now feeling like the home team, despite the Rams being the reason this game is even happening.

Los Angeles meanwhile landed in Melbourne on Thursday morning and plan to stay on their own local time, flying in and out as quickly as possible.

The Rams landed in Melbourne at approximately 7am AEST Thursday after a 16-hour flight, though players were all treated to lie-flat seats on their Qantas Airbus A380, described by Rams linebacker Byron Young as “bougie”.

According to those around the team, the players will likely go to sleep around 6pm local time on Thursday, wake up around 2-3am Friday, play the game at 10:30am and then get back on the plane and return to Los Angeles.

One of the biggest sports podcasters in the world, Bill Simmons, has described the clashing methodologies as the story of the year.

“This is the number one storyline of the year. However this plays out is going to be amazing,” Simmons said on Tuesday.

“I got an email from someone who said San Francisco is going to be in the long term more trouble because when you stay far away from where you live for too long, you’re screwed up for weeks.

“The Rams are going to lose the game, but in the long term will be better. The Niners are going to win the game, but be messed up for two months.

“It’s one of the rare stories I can’t get enough of.”

American sports analyst Nick Wright meanwhile can’t wrap his head around the amount of time the Rams will spend on a plane this week.

“I can’t imagine getting back on the plane after the game. The other piece of it is they’re going to spend 36 of 60 hours on a plane,” Wright said.

Former NBA star Cole Anthony, who has signed with Melbourne United for the upcoming NBL season, has recently made the long-haul flight himself.

Speaking exclusively to nine.com.au, the point guard agrees that the Rams have made a huge mistake, both because of the difficulty of playing after a 16-hour flight, and because they’ve done zero promotion for the game locally in Melbourne.

“I think what the Rams are doing is ridiculous. That joint don’t make no sense,” Anthony told nine.com.au.

“Especially coming to a great city like Melbourne. I think it’s cool what the 49ers are doing coming over here and experiencing it.

“I heard a few of the guys went to the AFL final last week. I think they’re doing it the right way.

“I think in the process you’re just going to mess yourself up more trying to stay on LA time and I’m sure they’ll be fine playing in the game because they’re professionals, but I’m just thinking if it was me, I couldn’t do that, personally.

“That turnaround back onto the flight is way too quick. It’s nuts, I’m not going to lie.”

The Rams are bullish their fly-in-fly-out plan will work, mainly because they pulled a similar trick last season for a game in London – a match they ultimately won comfortably.

Well-known American sports doctor Jesse Morse, however, believes the Rams have not factored in how much longer this flight is and the additional strain of flying to Australia.

“This is a crazy scenario,” he said on his YouTube channel.

“The 49ers have decided to give themselves a week to acclimate. The data shows you need about 10 days to acclimate, but seven days is pretty good. They’ll be able to hydrate, get their sleep schedules normal, reaction time will be normal. They’ll be as close to normal as they possibly can be.

“The Rams chose to leave as late as physically possible so they can get there, get a sleep, and then potentially play the next morning and leave that night.

“That is a crazy, extreme stress on their circadian rhythm (body clock).

“Their body won’t even have acclimated to being in Australia and they’re going to ask themselves to play a high-level game and their first game of the season.

“The Rams likely did this because they did this last year in London, arriving the day before the game, they smoked the Jaguars, and then they came back. Maybe they’re just planning to do that again.

“The difference is this is a significantly longer flight and the flight path is the polar opposite. This is a demanding flight. For every one hour on the flight, you need to consume 240ml of liquid. This is a 16-hour flight.”

At the end of the day, it’s a sample size of one, but many conclusions will be drawn.

Rams coach Sean McVay himself has dismissed criticism of their planning, saying the result of the match will entirely determine how people judge the decision-making.

However, all eyes will be on week two and how both teams rebound from the long trip as well.