INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Squandering a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead again cost the 49ers a shot at the Lombardi Trophy.
Two years after collapsing in the Super Bowl, the 49ers relapsed in Sunday’s fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game and fell 20-17 to the host Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
The 49ers (12-8) could not pull off more down-to-the-wire heroics. They were tapped out, after winning elimination games here against the Rams in the regular-season finale just to make the playoffs as a wild-card, followed by harrowing wins at Dallas and Green Bay.
The Rams rallied, and their reward is a spot in the Super Bowl on their home field in two weeks against the Cincinnati Bengals, who dethroned two-time reigning AFC champion Kansas City earlier Sunday in overtime.
This NFC finale did not have the makings of a tense finish, at least not once George Kittle landed in the end zone with a 16-yard touchdown catch to put the 49ers ahead 17-7 with 1:59 left in the third quarter.
But scars from Super Bowl LIV were a reminder that a 10-point lead was not safe. There, in the 49ers’ last playoff defeat, they blew a 20-10 lead in the final seven minutes and fell to the Chiefs 31-20 two years ago.
“Guys didn’t let up,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “… We slowed them down for a while, and I thought we had them on the ropes, but you still have to make plays and get it done, and we fell a little short.”
Sure enough, Sunday’s 10 point lead vanished with 6:49 remaining in regulation, and the Rams went ahead on Matt Gay’s 30-yard field goal with 1:46 to spare.
Garoppolo’s final pass — likely of his 49ers’ tenure — saw him make a desperation, shovel attempt to JaMycal Hasty, but the ball ricocheted into the hands of linebacker Travin Howard for an interception with 1:09 remaining.
Garoppolo was 1-of-6 for minus-3 yards and an interception in the 49ers’ final two possessions, after their 10-point lead had vanished. So ended a remarkable season filled with resiliency, in which the 49ers were all in on Garoppolo despite drafting Trey Lance No. 3 overall for what now seems a 2022 quarterback change.
“I love Jimmy. I’m not going to sit here and make a farewell statement. It’s the last thing on my mind,” Shanahan said. “Jimmy battled his (butt) off today. I love coaching Jimmy.”
The 49ers’ defense was quite culpable, of course. Still, the Rams only scored 20 points.
The Rams’ rally cut their deficit to 17-14 only 1 ½ minutes into the fourth quarter, when Matthew Stafford found Cooper Kupp for their second touchdown connection. Kupp, the NFL’s triple-crown receiving leader, slipped past nickel back K’Waun Williams. No surprise. No defense.
Stafford’s next throw, on the Rams’ next possession, went deep and right to safety Jaquiski Tartt, who dropped it. Next snap, Stafford found Odell Beckham Jr. for 29 yards, and a roughing penalty on Jimmie Ward tacked on another 15 yards. Fred Warner’s third-down tackle forced a 40-yard, game-tying field goal at the 6:49 mark.
Inexcusable lapses. That’s how a defense retreats, not to mention allowing the Rams to convert 11 of 18 third-down plays.
The 49ers’ offense had no immediate response, other than to recoil. Garoppolo went 0-for-3 on that series following the Rams’ tying field goal, fortunate to have had Jalen Ramsey drop a potential interception.
A few minutes after Garoppolo did throw a loss-clinching interception, he waved to the southwest stands and walked alone off the field, with his helmet in his right hand.
So this is how it ended, even after so much promise earlier in the game of beating the Rams for a seventh consecutive meeting.
Nobody sparked the 49ers more to a 10-7 halftime lead than Deebo Samuel. First, he scored a game-tying touchdown on a 44-yard catch-and-run, in which he broke four tackles and was clocked at 20.35 mph before diving across the goal line, with 6:10 until halftime.
What really rattled everyone, however, was when Samuel got leveled on safety Nick Scott’s hit over the middle. Samuel was down with 1:01 to go, players surrounded him fearing the worst, tempers flared, then Samuel pounced up, rushed to the sideline and returned after missing just one snap.
That hit certainly stoked the 49ers’ fire, and Garoppolo responded with three completions (11 yards to George Kittle, 6 to JaMycal Hasty, 13 to Brandon Aiyuk) before a 4-yard scramble to finish teeing up Robbie Gould’s 38-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead.
It was Samuel’s sixth touchdown (third receiving) in seven career games against the Rams, his favorite foe.
It was Dynamic Deebo vs. Clutch Cooper.
It was exactly the response needed after the Rams’ scored first, on a 97-yard drive that lasted 18 plays and 9 ½ minutes. They scored on a predictable combination: a 16-yard, third-down touchdown pass from Stafford to Kupp, who found an open pasture in the end zone once he got past cornerback Ambry Thomas and went uncovered by Tarrt, with 8:46 until halftime.
Stafford, who the 49ers tried to trade for a year ago, is heading to his first Super Bowl, having passed for 337 yards (31-of-45) with two touchdowns and just the one interception. What a different story it might have been if Tartt intercepted his fourth-quarter heave.
Garoppolo’s final line: 16-of-30 for 232 yards, including four receptions for 72 yards by Samuel, who also led them in rushing with just 26 yards (seven carries).
Samuel will be back. So will many other 49ers, including Shanahan for a sixth season, after yet another one ended in horrifying fashion.
“Obviously, I think everyone can guess how we feel,” Shanahan said in his opening postgame remarks. “I’m so proud of these guys. I love this team.
“Every year is a different team and this is as cool as a team I’ve ever been a part of, and we came up short today. That’s part of sports and part of life. You have to deal with it. So those guys are hurting now but they’ll rebound and we’ll be stronger for it.”
