Four nights after winning the highest-scoring game of the NFL season, the Los Angeles Rams won the only game this year without a touchdown.
Joshua Karty kicked four field goals, and the Rams held on to win 12-6 against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night in an important game for the NFC West race.
“What’s really cool is this team has found a bunch of different ways to be able to win football games,” coach Sean McVay said. “You come off a 44-42 game the other day and then you win 12-6. Our group did what they needed to do to be able to get it done.”
The Rams (8-6) followed up their high-scoring win over Buffalo with a seventh win in their last nine games after starting 1-4. The Rams are now just half a game behind division-leading Seattle. This was the first time the Rams won a game without a touchdown since 2016.
The 49ers (5-8) led 6-3 heading into the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold on, dealing a major blow to their playoff chances.
This was the fourth time this season the Niners lost to a division opponent after leading by at least three points in the fourth quarter, making them the first team to do that since New England in 2000 during coach Bill Belichick’s first season.
“It was the story of the year,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Just not doing enough to win games. Not playing complementary. Just coming out a little too short.”
Karty tied the game with a 23-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, capping a 17-play drive. Then, he kicked a 27-yarder after Matthew Stafford connected with Puka Nacua on a 51-yard pass.
Karty made all four of his kicks, a big improvement after missing four in the past five games of his rookie season.
“He’s steady,” McVay said. “He’s consistent. He’s kind of unflappable.”
The Niners drove into field-goal range but Brock Purdy’s deep pass to the end zone was intercepted by Darious Williams, allowing the Rams to secure their first series sweep against the 49ers since 2018.
Stafford then led a clock-draining drive, which ended with Karty’s fourth field goal with 18 seconds left. Stafford finished 16 of 27 for 160 yards, with 137 of those yards coming after halftime when the heavy rain stopped.
“In the second half, the weather was good enough to do it all,” Stafford said. “We had the feeling that that was the kind of way this game was going to be played and it’s going to have to be one of those games. We scored 44 four nights ago and come out here and score 12 but they both count for one.”
Purdy finished 14 of 31 for 142 yards, and the 49ers failed to score a touchdown in a game for the first time since 2019.
The first half was played in heavy rain, which greatly impacted the offenses, with neither team able to move the ball.
The Rams had no first downs on their first four drives for the first time since 2013 before getting a late field goal to tie the game. The Niners went three-and-out three times and scored one field goal.
The teams combined for 11 punts, nine first downs, and 197 yards, just days after both teams had season highs in points.
The rain mostly stopped at halftime, but both offenses still struggled.
