INGLEWOOD – Jauan Jennings’ three touchdown catches – and a total of 11 pass catches for 175 yards – should have been enough for the 49ers to bury a struggling Rams team on Sunday.
Instead, the 49ers messed it up.
The undermanned Rams got their first win of the season by overcoming a 24-14 deficit in the fourth quarter to win their first home game at SoFi Stadium, 27-24. Most fans there wore red 49ers jerseys – and made unhappy faces as they left the stadium.
With two seconds left, Joshua Karty gave the Rams their first lead with a 37-yard field goal – and they only needed one more to inflict the 49ers (1-2) their second straight away loss.
The 49ers attempted a desperate play with multiple laterals in the final seconds and reached Rams territory before Jake Brendel’s throw to Brandon Aiyuk went out of bounds, ending one of the 49ers’ most frustrating losses in years and their first regular-season loss at SoFi Stadium in five years.
As in the last regular season game of the 2021 season, the 49ers squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
The 49ers return to Levi’s Stadium after back-to-back road games to host the New England Patriots and then the Arizona Cardinals the next two Sundays. The Rams avoided their first 0-3 start since 2011, when they were based in St. Louis, finishing 2-14 that year.
The 49ers needed their defense to protect a 24-17 lead with 2:43 left. They couldn’t. Rams running back Kyren Williams tied Jennings with a third touchdown in this NFC West battle to make it 24-24 with 1:51 left in regulation. That Rams drive to tie the game began with Matthew Stafford completing a 50-yard pass to Tutu Atwell at the 5-yard line against Charvarius Ward coverage.
The 49ers’ ensuing drive lasted less than a minute and was hampered primarily by Ronnie Bell throwing a deep pass into Rams territory in the second and tenth minutes.
This offensive error, which followed defensive errors by the 49ers, set the stage for a special teams slip-up. The 49ers allowed a punt return to the halfway line, leaving the Rams with 41 seconds to score the game-winning points.
Jennings’ best day as a pro was lost. Of his 11 pass catches for 175 yards, three came on the offense’s final series when they needed one more catch from him and everyone else.
Jake Moody’s 26-yard field goal gave the 49ers a 24-14 lead that they had to defend for the game’s final 12 minutes. That 13-play, 62-yard touchdown drive began with Jennings’ catches of 32 and 14 yards, and Purdy’s runs kept the posts moving until Moody was called.
The Rams responded with a 33-yard field goal of their own following Sam Okuayinon’s sack on third down.
The 49ers had arguably made their game-winning play when Purdy threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Jennings, who ran through the end zone into the tunnel of SoFi Stadium with his right index finger raised. That was the stab in the back the 49ers needed, the kind of third-down conversion that proved this offense could survive without Christian McCaffrey, without Deebo Samuel, without George Kittle.
Jennings’ third point, however, came midway through the third quarter, giving the Rams plenty of time to mount a comeback. Purdy threw touchdown passes to Jennings on the 49ers’ first two drives, and it looked like they were headed for defeat until the Rams resorted to a fake punt to sustain a touchdown drive and pull within 14-7.
Jennings’ only previous game with two touchdown receptions was here in the 2021 regular season finale, a 27-24 win, when those pinpoint strikes were thrown by Deebo Samuel and Jimmy Garoppolo.
While so much of the pregame attention was focused on whether Brandon Aiyuk would honor his $30 million-a-year contract extension, it was Jennings who impressed in the red zone, confirming the two-year, $15 million deal he signed in May as an obvious bargain. Jennings’ most acrobatic catch came in the third quarter: a 32-yard back pass. Purdy went back to Jennings two snaps later and snatched the ball 14 yards between three defenders.
After Jennings’ third touchdown, the Rams responded with their own touchdown drive, capped by Kyren Williams’ 3-yard touchdown run after Renardo Green’s holding penalty allowed the first-and-goal attempt.
Williams scored the Rams’ final touchdown with a 15-yard catch-and-run-and-flip across the goal line with 1:11 left before halftime. Williams beat De’Vondre Campbell before overtaking Talanoa Hufanga to bring the Rams within 14-7.
The 49ers’ ensuing drive came within field goal range, but after they took their final timeout with 31 seconds left at the Rams’ 40-yard line, Purdy lost the ball on a strip-sack fumble. Earlier, left tackle Williams had fallen to the turf and grabbed his left calf after blocking Byron Young on a Purdy scramble going the other way. Williams went to the locker room and the 49ers announced he was suffering from cramps; Williams required two IVs to combat the cramps during the opening game on Sept. 9.
After going 3-and-out on the first two drives of the previous games, the 49ers marched 70 yards for a touchdown on Sunday’s opener. And they did it with authority. Jordan Mason delivered runs of 6, 7, 7 and 4 yards and then caught a 7-yard pass for the first down at the Rams’ 13-yard line. That led to Purdy’s first touchdown pass to Jennings, extending the lead to 7-0.
The 49ers defense forced a three-and-out on their opening series, with Hufanga making her first tackle on his first snap since tearing an ACL 10 months ago. Jordan Elliott joined the regular starters on the 49ers defensive line to form a five-lineman front designed to slow down running back Williams.
In the final minute of the first half, left tackle Williams went down and grabbed his left calf after blocking Byron Young on a Purdy run going the other way. Williams then went to the locker room alone and the 49ers announced that he was simply suffering from cramps; Williams required two IVs in the opening game on Sept. 9 to combat the cramps.
The 49ers’ offense continued to fight without three injured stars: running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles tendon), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (calf) and tight end George Kittle (hamstring). But in the end, the 49ers’ offense dried up, but the Rams’ did not.
