Somehow the Rams keep hope alive and beat the 49ers – Orange County Register

INGLEWOOD – Yes, they say hope dies last. But the Rams clearly applied pressure on Sunday afternoon, didn't they?

The odds of an NFL team starting the season 0-3 making the playoffs were estimated to be only slightly higher than the odds of any of us winning a Powerball jackpot. Only four of 162 teams since 1990 that started 0-3 have reached the postseason, and only one team has done so since the turn of the century, the 2018 Houston Texans. None of those teams have won the Super Bowl.

So when the injury-plagued Rams fell behind 14-0 to the San Francisco 49ers in a home stadium where the visiting fans, clad in red, made up 65 to 70 percent of the crowd, things looked bleak. No, they were almost hopeless.

And maybe Sunday was the revenge of the damned, almost hopeless. About a half-hour after Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning to complete the Dodgers' comeback from a 5-1 deficit, beat Colorado and preserve their three-game lead in the NL West, Rams kicker Joshua Karty completed his own team's improbable finish by smashing a 37-yard field goal with four seconds left, bringing his team back from a 14-0 deficit in the first quarter to 24-14 with 11:57 left in the game.

Final score: Rams 27, 49ers 24, and the Rams video crew was happily flashing footage on the giant infinity screen of 49ers fans riding the escalators to the parking lot or still sitting in the stands with pained expressions on their faces. Sometimes there are advantages to watching the other team's fans overrun the stadium, especially when you get to watch them slink away in defeat.

But this victory could have implications far beyond this week, even considering the NFL's mantra that each game is a separate entity.

A team that lost both of its top receivers to injury and also had to reshuffle its offensive line played with what coach Sean McVay described as “a lot of grit and grit.” And while the hero at the end of the game was rookie kicker Karty — that is, after the 49ers' attempt to make a rugby-like play in the game's final five seconds was blocked — an equally unlikely hero would have been Xavier Smith, a sophomore receiver from Florida A&M who was promoted from the practice squad on Saturday and used as a punt return.

The original plan was for Kyren Williams to return punts in addition to his running back duties. In two games, he managed two passes for 12 yards and a fair catch. Perhaps it dawned on McVay and his team that since Smith was on the roster to bolster receiver depth, he should also be used on returns.

He brought one back, and it might have changed the Rams' season. With the game tied 24-24 and the Rams defense holding the 49ers at their own 45-yard line with 55 seconds left, Smith intercepted Mitch Wishnowsky's punt at his own 12-yard line and returned it to the halfway line before being forced off the field.

This set the stage for the end. Tight end Colby Parkinson received a 25-yard pass interference penalty against De'Vondre Campbell Sr. – and to be fair, the Rams also had to choose between defensive holding and illegal use of hands on the same play. Williams then ran 6 yards in front of the right guard to the 49ers' 19-yard line to give Karty his star performance.

Smith immediately praised the guys who blocked for him, saying they “had as much of a defining moment in that game as I did.” But it must have been a moment that reinforced the possibilities in his own mind, and I asked him what that meant to him.

“I just know that from Monday to game day, I did everything I could to prepare for this game,” he said. “I just have … peace of mind knowing that I did everything I could. When the moment presents itself, I'm ready to take it.”

Long before that, late in the second quarter, another normally unsung hero had changed the course of the game. Ronnie Rivers took a direct snap that appeared to be intended for punter Ethan Evans on fourth-and-6 at the Rams' 23-yard line. The 49ers led 14-0 at the time and had 32 offensive snaps to the Rams' 19.

Rivers converted that direct snap into a 7-yard gain, and that first attempt led to the first of Williams' three touchdowns, a 15-yard pass from Matthew Stafford where he leapt over a San Francisco defender and somersaulted into the end zone. Instead of an impending defeat, it was a ball game.

And if there was another improbable but must-have play, it came from Tutu Atwell, who was thrust into the spotlight when Puka Nucua and Cooper Kupp were out. Atwell was targeted five times and caught four balls for 93 yards, the biggest of which was a 50-yard play down the sideline with 2:43 left in the fourth quarter when the Rams were still leading 24-17 and had just gotten the ball back after 49ers kicker Jake Moody was wide left on a 55-yard field goal attempt that could have clinched the win. (Or maybe not, as the day progressed.)

Instead, Atwell took the Rams to the San Francisco 5-yard line and Williams took them into the end zone with 1:51 left to tie the game. And the fun was just beginning.

“In a game like this, when you're down 2-0, it's easy to think, 'Looks like last week again,'” Rams linebacker Troy Reeder said. “But there was just no giving up in this group and I'm really proud of them and how they fought and persevered and finally got it done.

“I walked up and down the sidelines and had the feeling that everyone was confident that we would get going at some point. And we did. We were able to get some points on offense and make some stops on defense.”