INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers let a win slip through their hands at SoFi Stadium.
That was one of the headlines the last time they lost here, the 2021 NFC Championship Game when safety Jaquiski Tartt dropped a would-be interception late in a game the Los Angeles Rams would go on to win on a late field goal.
There was another prominent drop Sunday when, with the score tied at 24 with 1:08 remaining, Brock Purdy looked to his right and saw receiver Ronnie Bell with a step on his opponent. A completion would have brought the 49ers to at least the Rams’ 24-yard line, forcing Los Angeles to burn timeouts and setting up a makeable game-winning field goal for Jake Moody.
Instead, the ball clanked off Bell’s hands, giving the Rams a chance to make big plays in the game’s final minute. Unlike the 49ers, they capitalized, and it was Los Angeles’ young kicker, Joshua Karty, who booted home a 37-yard game-winner in the final seconds.
After the game, Kyle Shanahan shared what he’d emphasized to his players in the run-up to the game: Don’t give the Rams second chances.
Shanahan knew Los Angeles would be especially feisty and inspired a week after a blowout loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and he underscored the importance of jumping on them early and not letting up.
“I told them last night: You’ve got to take their hope away,” Shanahan said. “You give (Matthew) Stafford too much hope, then you’ll put the ball in his hands at the end. And it’s a situation you don’t want to be in. And we had every chance to avoid that situation a number of times.”
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For years the Rams have been San Francisco’s “get right” team, the opponent they used to end losing skids. They’d beaten the Rams six times since 2019 in games preceded by one or more losses. On Sunday, however, Los Angeles exposed everything that’s ailing the 49ers at the start of the season.
That begins with special teams. The “hope” that Shanahan so badly wanted to stamp out early on started to creep back in the second quarter when, already trailing by two touchdowns, Los Angeles pulled off a fake punt on fourth-and-6. Shanahan said the 49ers knew what was coming but couldn’t stop running back Ronnie Rivers from picking up a first down after a direct snap.
“We were expecting a fake punt there and they still got our edge,” Shanahan said.
Rams dial the fake punt!
📺: #SFvsLAR on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/Fxpkv12aaD— NFL (@NFL) September 22, 2024
That was only the first of the 49ers’ special teams miscues.
Moody had a chance to essentially ice the game with a 55-yard field goal with 2:48 remaining but pushed the kick too far left, his first miss of the season.
More unforgivable was the 49ers’ punt coverage following the late-game possession on which Bell had his drop. Mitch Wishnowsky seemed to get off a good punt, one that descended at the 13-yard line. Rookie gunner Malik Mustapha, however, whiffed on the initial tackle attempt and return man Xavier Smith was able to get outside of George Odum and others for a 37-yard return.
“It was unacceptable,” linebacker Fred Warner said afterward of all the mistakes. “Can’t do that. We can’t beat ourselves.”
Warner’s unit didn’t escape blame, either. For the second straight week, the defense allowed deep pass plays at critical times. Stafford connected with Demarcus Robinson for 32 yards early in the fourth quarter and then hit Tutu Atwell for 50 yards against the 49ers’ top cover man, Charvarius Ward, to set up Los Angeles’ game-tying touchdown with 1:51 to go.
Unlike last week when they were facing perhaps the best receiver in the league, the Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, the 49ers’ opponents Sunday hardly were household names. Atwell and Robinson, filling in for injured Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, combined for 125 receiving yards while running back Kyren Williams scored three touchdowns.
Finally, Bell’s drop obscured a strong outing from Purdy — 292 passing yards with another 41 yards on the ground — and an all-time performance by receiver Jauan Jennings, who had 11 catches, 175 yards and three touchdowns.
He told us he had these hands covered 🙌
📺 #SFvsLAR on FOX
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4nCVJ pic.twitter.com/bWJnQ2UeYV— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 22, 2024
He joined Jerry Rice as the only 49ers receiver with at least 10 catches, 150 yards and three touchdowns in one game. He became the first 49ers wide receiver with three touchdowns in one contest since Terrell Owens did so in 2001. Jennings, who caught all but one of his passing targets, left the locker room without talking to reporters, but Shanahan and his teammates stressed how clutch he’s been this season, especially on Sunday.
“Jauan was a warrior the whole game,” Shanahan said.
Last week in Minnesota, there was a sense that the 49ers were out-schemed, especially by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. They emerged from the Rams game with a different feeling — that they let a game, which seemed like a comfortable victory early on, slip through their hands.
The 49ers have learned over the last three seasons just how difficult it is to reach a Super Bowl. The feeling in the visitors locker room of SoFi Stadium on Sunday was that they made things even harder on themselves.
Said defensive end Nick Bosa: “We’re in a hole now and we’ve got to dig out.”
(Top photo of Ronnie Bell’s dropped pass: Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
