The Los Angeles Rams had a chance to take down a division rival and move into sole possession of first place on Thursday night, but instead, they came up empty after making several huge mistakes during the late stages of their 26-23 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Rams, who were favored by 8.5 points, became an upset victim because they couldn’t get out of their own way in the fourth quarter. Although Matthew Stafford threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns, it wasn’t quite enough to overcome the Rams’ costly errors.
Let’s cover the three biggest errors that the Rams made from the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Rams gave up another blocked kick
The Rams trailed 20-7 in the third quarter, but thanks to Stafford, they were quickly able to erase that deficit. The Rams quarterback threw a touchdown pass to Puka Nacua in the third quarter to cut the lead to 20-14. In the fourth quarter, it looked like the Rams were going to take a 21-20 lead after Kyren Wililams caught an 8-yard scoring pass, but that didn’t happen, because Joshua Karty’s extra point got blocked.
The block by the 49ers kept the score knotted at 20 with 10:39 left in the game. The Rams field goal team has had a serious problem with protection this year. This extra point attempt marked the third time since Week 3 that Karty has had a kick blocked and the painful part is that all three blocks have come in the fourth quarter.
Karty also missed a 53-yard field goal in the game, so special teams cost the Rams a total of four points.
Kyren Williams’ fumble in the fourth quarter
With just 2:52 left to play and the Rams trailing 23-20, Los Angeles took over possession at its own 35-yard line with a chance to tie or win the game.
Matthew Stafford quickly drove the Rams into scoring position on a drive where he completed two passes for 29 yards. After a 20-yard run from Kyren Williams, the Rams quickly found themselves on the cusp of scoring a possible go-ahead touchdown with a first-and-goal at San Francisco’s 3-yard line. However, they ended up getting ZERO points on the drive because Williams fumbled the ball away at the 1-yard line.
The fumble was forced by 49ers rookie Alfred Collins who threw a perfect punch at the football to knock it loose. If Williams had scored a touchdown, it would have put the Rams up 27-23 with just 1:05 left to play, but instead, the 49ers took over possession at their own 1-yard line.
The Rams did force a three-and-out on the ensuing 49ers’ drive and Stafford then quickly drove his team into field goal range to force overtime after Karty nailed a 48-yard kick.
Errant kickoff to start overtime
Karty didn’t get to celebrate his game-tying field goal for very long, because, on the first play of overtime, he made a brutal mistake. When Karty kicks off, he generally hits a knuckleball and that had been working well all night until the game got to overtime. In the extra session, Karty got penalized because his kickoff didn’t make it to the landing zone. The penalty set the 49ers up with the ball at their 40-yard line.
From there, the 49ers didn’t have to drive very far to get in field goal range. Mac Jones ended up taking them 37 yards to set up Eddy Pinero’s 41-yard field goal that proved to be the game-winning points.
Sean McVay admits his ‘poor’ play call cost his team the game
Under this year’s overtime rules, both teams are guaranteed one possession, so the 49ers had to kickoff to the Rams after Piniero’s field goal. The Rams took over at their own 33-yard line and Stafford immediately drove them 56 yards down to San Francisco’s 11-yard line, where they eventually faced a fourth-and-1.
At that point, Rams coach Sean McVay had two options: He could kick the field and tie up the game or he could go for the first down. The usually conservative coach decided to go for it and that decision backfired after he called a run up the middle.
Williams never had a chance.
After the game, McVay was asked about the play call and he was clearly frustrated with himself.
“The play selection was very poor,” McVay said. “I’m sick right not because I put our players in a shitty spot and I have to live with that.”
Stafford was on fire in the fourth quarter and overtime, throwing for a total of 194 yards. The Rams had a six-play drive in overtime and the first five plays were all passes. With Stafford playing so well, it probably would have made sense to put the ball in his hands, but McVay had Williams run up the middle.
If you want our full takeaways from the 49ers win, we’ve got those here.
