Rams squander late opportunities, losing in an overtime stunner to 49ers

The Rams played the blame game Thursday night.

They pointed plenty of fingers — but only at themselves individually.

Running back Kyren Williams blamed himself for fumbling at the one-yard line on what might have been a winning touchdown run against the San Francisco 49ers.

Coach Sean McVay blamed himself for his call on a failed fourth-and-one running play that ended the game.

🏈 49ers 26, Rams 23 — FINAL

On fourth-and-one, the 49ers defense stopped Rams running back Kyren Williams short of a first down at the San Francisco 11-yard line to preserve a stunning win.

Williams caught a five-yard pass to set up the fourth-and-one. Each team called a timeout before Marques Sigle and others stuffed Williams at the line.

Rams receiver Tutu Atwell broke away from coverage and caught a 38-yard pass to move the ball into the San Francisco red zone, but the Rams came up empty when coach Sean McVay opted to go for it on fourth down and try to stay in contention for the win rather than try for a tying field goal.

The Rams had a chance to take the lead with just over a minute left in regulation, but San Francisco defensive tackle Alfred Collins stripped the ball away from Williams and recovered the ensuing fumble.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford completed 30 of 47 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns.

49ers quarterback Mac Jones, starting for the injured Brock Purdy, completed 33 of 49 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns despite battling injuries most of the game.

🏈 49ers 26, Rams 23 — 4:09 left in overtime

Eddy Pineiro kicked a 41-yard field goal off one of the uprights to give the 49ers the lead again.

Kobie Turner and Byron Young sacked Mac Jones on two down and the pass rush forced Jones into throwing an incompletion on third down. Jones had to be assisted off the field by teammates after being hit by Young on third down.

🏈 49ers 23, Rams 23 — END OF REGULATION

Joshua Karty kicked a 48-yard field goal with two seconds left in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime after disaster struck the Rams with just over a minute left in regulation.

San Francisco rookie defensive tackle Alfred Collins stripped the ball out of running back Kyren Williams’ arms at the goal line and recovered the ball on the 49ers one-yard line to stymie the Rams’ efforts to retake the lead.

The Rams used their three timeouts and prevented the 49ers from gaining any yards on the ensuing possession to force a punt. Starting from the 50 with 42 seconds left, Stafford completed a 13-yard pass to Williams on fourth down to move the Rams into field-goal range.

Rams won the coin toss and elected to kick. Both teams will get the opportunity to possess the ball under the new overtime rules.

🏈 49ers 23, Rams 20 — 2:52 left in the fourth quarter

Eddy Pineiro kicked a 59-yard field goal to put the 49ers back into the lead late in the fourth quarter. Th field goal capped a 12-play, 57-yard drive.

Josaiah Stewart knocked down a pass by Mac Jones on third down to force the field-goal try.

Jones, despite playing through a knee injury, continues to find success against the Rams defense. He completed a 16-yard pass to Christian McCaffrey on third down and an 18-yard pass to Kendrick Bourne.

The Rams have three time outs left; San Francisco has one.

🏈 49ers 20, Rams 20 — 10:39 left in the fourth

Kyren Williams caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford, but the 49ers blocked Joshua Karty’s extra-point attempt to make it a tied game.

San Francisco defensive tackle Jordan Elliott blocked the extra-point attempt.

Williams has two receiving touchdowns tonight.

Stafford completed 26- and 24-yard passes to Davante Adams on consecutive plays to move the Rams into the red zone.

Williams had a drive-sustaining three-yard run on third-and-one during the nine-play, 88-yard trek to the end zone.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Nate Landman tackled Christian McCaffrey in the backfield on third-and-one to halt a seven-play 49ers drive.

Stafford has completed 21 of 31 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns. Williams has 40 yards in 10 carries.

Puka Nacua has eight receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown. He is the first player in NFL history to record 50 catches through the first five games of a season.

🏈 49ers 20, Rams 14 — 4:28 left in the third quarter

Puka Nacua caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to trim the deficit to seven points.

The Rams drove 69 yards in seven plates, with Stafford connecting with Nacua for completions of 16 and 12 yards.

Nacua has seven catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.

Stafford has completed 15 of 23 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

🏈 49ers 20, Rams 7 —

Eddy Pineiro kicked a 20-yard field goal to increase the 49ers’ lead.

The Rams came out strong on the opening possession of the second half, but Kyren Williams dropped a third-down pass from Matthew Stafford to stymie the drive and force a punt.

The 49ers drove the Rams’ one-yard line, but the Rams forced the 49ers to settle for the field goal.

Mac Jones has completed 18 of 28 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns. Jones went down grabbing his left knee at the end of the drive, but managed to walk to the sideline after being looked at by team trainers.

🏈 49ers 17, Rams 7 — HALFTIME

Eddy Pineiro kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter to increase the 49ers’ lead to 10 points.

The 49ers got the ball with about two minutes left in the first half and quarterback Mac Jones drove them 12 plays to the field goal.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has completed nine of 13 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Puka Nacua has three catches for 24 yards.

Kyren Williams has rushed for 26 yards and has two catches for 40 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown.

Mac Jones has completed 15 of 23 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

Christian McCaffrey has five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown. He has rushed for 45 yards in 13 carries.

🏈 49ers 14, Rams 7 — 2:09 left in second quarter

Kyren Williams caught a short pass from Matthew Stafford and high-stepped 15 yards to the end zone to pull the Rams to within seven points.

Stafford engineered an eight-play, 85-yard drive comprised completely of passing plays.

Rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson keyed the drive with his first career reception for 18 yards. Stafford followed with two passes to receiver Jordan Whittington before he found Williams for the touchdown pass.

Stafford has completed nine of 13 passes for 109 yards.

🏈 49ers 14, Rams 0 — 13:44 left in the second quarter

Mac Jones tossed a one-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey as the 49ers dominated during a long drive.

Jones engineered a 17-play, 91-yard march that consumed more than eight minutes.

McCaffrey has rushed for 24 yards in eight carries and has five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown.

Jones has completed 11 of 13 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

The 49ers benefited early in the drive from a roughing the passer penalty against Rams rookie Josaiah Stewart that came during an 13-yard completion to former Rams receiver Demarcus Robinson.

🏈 49ers 7, Rams 0 — 10:09 left in the first quarter

The 49ers are without several injured starters, including quarterback Brock Purdy, but that did not stop them from taking the opening possession and turning it into a touchdown.

Mac Jones tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Tonges to cap an eight-play, 72-yard drive.

Christian McCaffrey caught two passes for 30 yards and rushed three times for 10 yards.

Jones’ 35-yard pass to Kendrick Bourne keyed the drive.

Sean McVay good naturedly put it on his late grandfather.

As a team executive, John McVay helped the San Francisco 49ers win five Super Bowl titles, excellence that created 49ers fans everywhere.

So when the Rams play the 49ers on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium, McVay fully expects the usual massive contingent of 49ers fans.

“They obviously have a great fan base,” Sean McVay said Monday during a videoconference with reporters before deadpanning. “I blame my grandpa for that.”

Here are the players who will not be suiting up for the Rams and 49ers on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium:

Rams

QB Stetson Bennett

OT Rob Havenstein

TE Tyler Higbee

OL Beaux Limmer

DL/OLB Desjuan Johnson

49ers

QB Brock Purdy

RB Jordan James

WR Jordan Watkins

WR Ricky Pearsall

DL Robert Beal

LB Nick Martin

Christian McCaffrey thought he was going to be a Ram.

With the NFL trade deadline two weeks away in 2022, the then-Carolina Panthers star running back did not know if the team would deal him. But then the star running back got a late-night call from his agent.

“I thought I was getting traded to the Rams,” McCaffrey said this week on teammate George Kittle’s podcast, adding. “He called me and he’s like, ‘You’re going to the Niners.’”

Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers coach, acknowledged this week that he was aware of the Rams’ interest.

“We heard they were in it, yeah,” Shanahan told Bay Area reporters. “So, I mean, you hear a lot of things when you’re dealing with trades. Sometimes they’re real, sometimes they’re not. ... So, I guess it was true, but glad he ended up here.”

Two weeks after McCaffrey played against the Rams with the Panthers, he played against them again with the 49ers.

As if to show them what they missed, McCaffrey ran for a touchdown, passed for another and caught a touchdown pass in a 49ers’ victory.

Edge-rushing counterpart Jared Verse gets most of the attention, but Rams linebacker Byron Young also is off to an outstanding start.

Young, a third-year pro, has five sacks, tying him for the league lead with Brian Burns of the New York Giants and helping him earn NFC defensive player of the month honors.

Young, a third-round draft pick in 2023, had eight sacks as a rookie and 7½ sacks last season.

At the start of training camp, Young said he had been using a Pilates routine to increase his flexibility.

“I’m feeling a lot leaner,” he said in July. “On the field, I don’t get as gassed. In my form, in my technique, every time I’m in position, I can be in it for a longer period of time.

“Stability with my knees, when I’m in my stance, it’s a lot easier and a lot smoother. Especially bending around the corners.”

This week, Verse cited Young’s Pilates work as a reason his teammate’s confidence has grown.

“He has always been a dog, but like when you see the work that he’s put in and for some reason, Pilates is his magic power,” Verse said, laughing. “He’s dominant in every aspect. He’s leading the league in sacks and as much as he hates for me to mention it, that’s just a product of the work that he’s put in.

“I’ve seen what he’s been doing in the offseason and he deserves every bit, but I don’t even think he’s even opened the gate to what he’s able to do.”

Two seasons before Puka Nacua joined the Rams, Cooper Kupp made NFL history.

In 2021, Kupp won the so-called triple crown of receiving, was named NFL offensive player of the year and won the Super Bowl LVI most-valuable-player award.

Not that Nacua, a junior at Brigham Young at the time, monitored Kupp’s statistics.

“Sadly, I don’t recall too much,” he said. “I never was a fantasy player so I never caught the buzz either.”

The San Francisco 49ers’ receiver corps has been decimated by injuries, but the Rams will see at least one familiar face when they play the 49ers on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium.

Demarcus Robinson, who played two seasons with the Rams, returned from a three-game suspension last week and caught one pass for 20 yards in the 49ers’ loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Brandon Aiyuk is still recovering from 2024 knee surgery and Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings are out because of injuries. So Robinson, 31, could have an expanded role against the Rams.

Last season for the Rams, Robinson caught 31 passes for a career-best 505 yards and a career-best seven touchdowns.

Jared Verse last season established himself as one of the NFL’s biggest trash talkers.

But the Rams’ second-year edge rusher professes that he does have a limit.

On Thursday night at SoFi Stadium, Verse will go up at times against San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams.

Williams, 6 feet, 5 inches and 320 pounds, is a three-time All-Pro.

Verse said, “I don’t lie down for anybody.”

Verse, however, could not help laughing as he continued.

“I don’t change up who I am for anybody, but I’m also not dumb,” he said, chuckling. “I’d rather let a sleeping giant sleep. I’m not going to wake up anybody who’s minding their business. Especially somebody like that.”

Verse, the 2024 NFL defensive rookie of the year, has two sacks, including one that caused a fumble in last Sunday’s victory over the Indianapolis Colts. He also demonstrated his athleticism when he lined up off the line of scrimmage in the middle of the field and then knocked down the center as he bull-rushed the quarterback.

“It was definitely his most complete game this year,” defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. “Really, it’s been back-to-back weeks where he’s been playing hard, he’s been playing tough and he’s been physical in the run game. He’s made the game-changing plays.

“He’s been awesome. I just look forward for him to continue to build off that.”

The 37-year-old Williams, a 16th year pro, will present another challenge as “one of the best linemen ever” and a “first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Verse said.

“I think he’s been in the league longer than I’ve played football, so he understands it,” Verse said. “But I think the biggest challenge he adds is that with age you’ve become more savvy. He’s figured out, ‘OK, I’m not even going to take this block head on. I’m going to manipulate it.’ He’s going to mess with you a little bit, just enough that it makes you not be able to make the play.

“But he’s also still that dominant version of Trent, where it’s like he can get right in front of you, he can eat power, he can stop you in the pass rush. He has a lot of things that you’ve got to focus on to be successful against him.”

Tutu Atwell was the forgotten man.

After signing a one-year, $10-million contract, the Rams diminutive receiver seemed to be virtually ignored while playing in the shadow of stars Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Atwell went into Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts with only one target in each of the first three games.

He got only two targets against the Colts.

But the speedy Atwell made one count.

The Rams shut down Saquon Barkley. They neutralized Jonathan Taylor.

Now here comes Christian McCaffrey.

On Thursday night, the Rams’ defense gets another opportunity to prove it should be regarded among the NFL’s best when the San Francisco 49ers and their multidimensional star running back visit SoFi Stadium.

The injury-riddled 49ers (3-1), with victories over the Seattle Seahawks (3-1) and Arizona Cardinals (2-2), are in first place in the NFC West. The Rams (3-1) can move into first place with a victory in the division opener.