49ers Stage 4th-Quarter Comeback, Defeat Rams 22-21Myles Simmons
LOS ANGELES — Though they took a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the Rams allowed a 15-point comeback to fall to the 49ers, 22-21, on Christmas Eve at the Coliseum.
Quarterback Jared Goff connected with tight end Tyler Higbee for a two-yard touchdown pass with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter, giving the Rams a 21-7 lead.
But after that, it was all 49ers. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick ran in a 13-yard touchdown, passed for a 10-yard touchdown, then ran in a two-point conversion to lift the Niners to their second victory of the season — both of which have come at the Rams’ expense.
“Clearly a tough loss,” Rams interim head coach John Fassel said. “It’s sure tough to know what to say because it seems like it’s kind of the same thing that’s happening.”
The way this loss occurred had Fassel referring back to the Rams’ Week 11 matchup with the Dolphins, which also ended with an opponent’s fourth-quarter comeback.
“Kind of a replica of the Miami game where we just couldn’t convert third downs into first downs on offense, and just couldn’t get off the field in critical situations on defense,” Fassel said.
With the Rams ranked No. 32 in offense and the 49ers No. 32 in defense, this game appeared to be an opportunity for L.A. to establish a rhythm on that side of the ball. San Francisco’s defense got the better of the matchup, however, with the Rams recording just 177 total yards.
Running back Todd Gurley rushed 23 times for 67 yards with a touchdown. And quarterback Jared Goff had a forgettable day, completing just 11 of 24 passes for 90 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
“I thought there were some good things we did, I thought there were some, obviously, bad things I did,” Goff said. “We need to be better. I need to be better — I need to be better for us to win.”
“You look at San Francisco and they’ve been struggling on defense. We’ve been struggling on offense. So, a struggling defense was better than a struggling offense today,” Fassel said. “I’ll also look at the tape to know exactly why, but Todd made a big emphasis on running the football and I think he averaged 2.9 [yards] a carry. Just not good enough.”
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