SUPER BOWL SLIPS THROUGH 49ERS’ GRIP
S.F. fails to hold late 10-point lead as Rams advance
INGLEWOOD, Los Angeles County — Of course it came down to a stomach-churning final few seconds. How else would you expect the 20th game of this wild, vertigo-inducing, roller coaster season to go?
With 106 seconds to play, the 49ers put the ball in Jimmy Garoppolo’s injured right hand and asked the quarterback they want to fire to deliver them back into another Super Bowl.
And he couldn’t do it. On perhaps Garoppolo’s final play as a 49er, the ball was tipped and intercepted by the Rams.
For the first time in six games and three seasons, in the biggest game between the teams in more than three decades, the Rams finally beat the 49ers. The final score was 20-17.
And it will be the Rams who will be hosting the Super Bowl in their house in two weeks, facing the surprising Cincinnati Bengals.
And maybe, just maybe, the Rams will finally earn the true affection of Los Angeles fans.
The fourth quarter was all too familiar to the 49ers. With a 10-point lead and victory within reach, just like in the Super Bowl two years ago, they couldn’t close the deal.
Garoppolo — the quarterback they told wasn’t good enough in May, whose replacement was sitting on the bench — will be the one who is targeted for the game’s ugly final moments. Twice, the 49ers’ offense got the ball back in the final six minutes and 49 seconds. Twice, it couldn’t do anything with it.
“I love Jimmy,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game. “I’m not going to sit here and make a farewell statement.”
But in many ways, it was the 49ers’ vaunted
defense that allowed the Rams to come roaring back. They had no answer for Rams superstar receiver Cooper Kupp, who scored a touchdown to bring the Rams within a field goal.
Jaquiski Tartt dropped a sure interception. Jimmie Ward was called for a personal foul that moved the Rams down the field, where they eventually kicked a field goal to tie the game.
And when the Rams got the ball back, they again moved easily into field goal range and kicked the game-winner.
Credit the Rams, who came into the game with all the pressure on them. Oh, to be a fly on the wall of the owner's suite as the 49ers fans invaded SoFi and a “Beat L.A.” chant broke out in L.A.
Stan Kroenke built himself a $5 billion stadium. He mortgaged his team's draft future for a quarterback and a team to win right now. To win Sunday's game. To win the Super Bowl. To win the hearts of fans in Los Angeles. To elbow, at least a little, into a conversation that's usually all about the Lakers and the Dodgers.
His gamble paid off. The Rams beat the big brother that had bullied them for so long.
The teams are, in many ways, mirror images of each other, with hot shot offensive coaches born from the same system, monster defensive lines, and a star receiver. Anyone who thought this would be a lopsided game, in either way, was sadly misled.
But one difference: Rams coach Sean McVay went out and found a flashy new quarterback in Matthew Stafford. And Stafford helped deliver the Rams to the Super Bowl.
The loss ends a surprising and scrappy season for the 49ers and, almost certainly, ends Garoppolo's career in red and gold. He has embodied the team's resilience over the past four months.
Counted out, flawed, erratic and injured, he battled back. In both of his only two healthy seasons with the 49ers he got the 49ers to the NFC Conference Championship.
But the standard with the 49ers was set years ago by Joe Montana and enhanced by Steve Young. And getting to a conference title game simply isn't good enough. No pressure there, Trey Lance.
Garoppolo completed 16 of 30 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. The interception at the end came because the ball he flipped to JaMycal Hasty skipped off Hasty's hands.
Will history remember that Garoppolo had a mangled thumb and a sprained shoulder and gutted it out for the past month?
Maybe. It depends on the future. On what Lance does.
But given the parade of average 49ers seasons and forgettable quarterbacks the 49ers had before Garoppolo arrived and when he wasn't fully healthy, history might look favorably on his tenure in San Francisco.
But that's fodder for conversations about the 49ers in the future.
On Sunday night, the stadium quickly emptied of the 60 percent or so 49ers fans who had filled it. The Rams played Randy Newman's “I love L.A.” and dropped confetti in front of the remaining fans.
The Rams are trying to win the hearts of L.A. fans.
The hearts of the 49ers fans were left broken once again.