Thursday Night Football live stream free 2013: Watch online 49ers vs Rams [NFL game start time]

Week 4 of the NFL season will kick off with Thursday Night Football between the San Francisco 49ers and the St Louis Rams.

Tonight's game is important for both teams as they have both got off to lackluster starts to the new season. A win is all important today and for the winners tonight, it could mark the start of a revived push, but for the losers it will be a long way back to resurrect their season.

The game is scheduled to start at 8.25 p.m. ET and can be watched online through a free live stream link provided on the NFL Thursday Night Football network. The link should go live about 30 minutes before the game starts and can be accessed via the link provided below.

Both the 49ers and Rams have started the season with a 1-2 record, and for both that will be hugely disappointing. They will know the importance of quickly getting back up to .500, and neither will want to slip to 1-3, which would already put them on the outside of likely playoff qualifiers for this season.

The 49ers got off to a good start in week 1 and everything looked good when they took down the Green Bay Packers 34-28. However, since then, nothing has gone right, and they've scored just 10 points through weeks 2 and 3. With form like that they've no chance of taking the division and they could quickly fall out of the race. They need to fix things fast, in defense, but especially in offense, where they have looked lacking in ideas and entirely blunt in making penetration into opposition defenses.

In week 2 they lost 3-29 to the Seattle Seahawks, and last week they also were trashed by the Indianapolis Colts 7-27.

Meanwhile for the Rams, they are also feeling the pace this season and are also 1-2 coming into this big match up. St Louis have had a similar ride as the 49ers; winning in week 1 with a good 27-24 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, before losing for two weeks straight against Atlanta Falcons (24-31), and the Dallas Cowboys (7-31).

Last week's big loss against the Cowboys will have made heads drop following the game, and it will be interesting to see the reaction of the Rams' players tonight and whether they can drag themselves back into form.

Thursday Night Football will start at 8.25 p.m. ET and can be watched online through free live stream on the official NFL TNF website by clicking here.