With both teams resting most of their starters to avoid unnecessary injuries, the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams played basically a "pre-season" game with the backups The first-quarter saw the 49ers march down the field in twelve plays , 75 yards in almost eight minutes to score a rushing touchdown by running back Elijah Mitchell. The Rams came back and scored a touchdown with an amazing catch by star rookie Puka Nucua (who is looking to break some rookie records today), to tie the score at seven all to end the first-quarter.
Photo Credit: 49ers.com The 49ers once again marched down the field using almost ten minutes of the clock and capped the 16-play drive with backup QB Sam Darnold (auditioning as he will be a free agent in the off-season), doing a quarterback sneak into the end zone to make it 14-7, Niners. After place-kicker Jake Moody missed a short field goal, the Niners defense kept the Rams out of the end zone, helped by an interception grab off of a deflection by rookie Brian Hawkins, playing his first game ever as an NFL player. That ball is going to the trophy case for the kid! San Francisco ended the half on a 9 play, 90 yard TD drive in just over a minute, with WR Ronnie Bell catching a bullet from Darnold in the back of the end zone. Moody did miss the the extra point, leaving the half-time score at 20-7.
In the third-quarter, Nacua got both the yardage and receptions records by an NFL rookie and a tears of joy hug from his mom! :)
Los Angeles then marched the ball down the field on a drive of over ten minutes and scored a touchdown on a great pass by backup QB Carson Wentz to WR Tyler Johnson, the Rams kicker missed the extra point to bring the score 20-13, and the Rams dominated the clock to close out the third-quarter.
In the fourth-quarter, the Rams and Wentz ran down the field, and were assisted by a costly pass-interference penalty, then Wentz ran it into the end zone, and then converted the two-point conversion to take the lead, 21-20 with 4:56 to go. Unfortunately, San Francisco offense stalled, and ended on a turnover by Darnold and Los Angeles snaps a nine game regular season losing streak at the hands of the 49ers, and win, 21-20. 49ers finish the regular season at 12-5, as they rest during the bye week to prepare for the playoffs!
The playoff picture as it stands going into wild-card weekend:
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