BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
In a game dominated by reserves filling in for resting starters, Carson Wentz’ 12 yard run and successful two point conversion pass to Tutu Atwell with just over five minutes remaining in the final quarter lifted the Los Angeles Rams to a 21-20 win over the 49ers Sunday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium in the season finale for both teams.
With San Francisco (12-5) resting a majority of its marquee players after securing the top seed in the NFC throughout the playoffs last week, the game was a showcase for many back-ups and taxi squad players.
Sam Darnold, in his first start for the Niners in relief of Brock Purdy, had a solid game, going 16–26 for 189 yards and a touchdown, but his crucial fumble with 33 seconds remaining sent San Francisco down to its first division loss in two seasons, while locking up the sixth seed in the playoffs for the Rams (10-7).
San Francisco scored on their first possession of the game, culminating a 12 play drive that took up half of the opening quarter with a one yard touchdown run by Elijah Mitchell. Wentz wasted no time marching Los Angeles right back, finding Puka Nacua with a 19 yard touchdown pass on the Rams first drive to tie the score.
The 49ers established some breathing room in the second quarter with Darnold scoring on a one yard run before finding Ronnie Bell with a five yard touchdown pass to send San Francisco into the locker room with a 20-7 lead at halftime. A missed extra point by the usually reliable Jake Moody on Darnold’s score would prove costly.
After Wentz connected on a pair of passes early in the third quarter to allow Nacua to set new NFL rookie records for both receptions (105) and yardage (1,486), he completed the 17 play, ten minute drive by finding Tyler Johnson for an eight yard touchdown to cut the Niners lead to a single score.
The teams would trade possessions before Wentz (17-24, 163) took over in the fourth quarter, marching the Rams 71 yards before his touchdown run set up his game winning conversion pass to Atwell, taking advantage of Moody’s missed extra point in the second quarter. Wentz’ 56 yards on the ground also paced Los Angeles rushing attack.
Mitchell led the Niners with 52 yards on 14 carries while Chris Conley caught three passes for 69 yards to pace San Francisco in his first game as a 49er. Rookie Tayler Hawkins out of San Diego State, activated off the practice squad, registered four tackles and a diving interception of Wentz in his first NFL game.
Asked his assessment of the season after the game, San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan stated “Our goal was to get the No. 1 seed, that was our first and foremost goal. We did it. It was just a little bit weird this last week but I like how our guys handled it. I loved how our year went. We set out to do this. I was real happy with a number of guys. I thought guys got better throughout the year, but as our players have been saying, we still feel our best football’s forward. That’s kind of tough to generate when you’re not going through these games. But that’s why we got to be so locked into these practices. Just how we clean things up and make sure no matter what happens, no matter who comes here in a couple weeks. And no matter what type of game it is, whether it’s a shootout, a game of field goals, whatever it is, that we’re up for whatever it takes to win it.”
With the win, Los Angeles secured a wild card weekend matchup in Detroit against the NFC North champion Lions, avoiding a trip to Dallas against the more playoff experienced Cowboys that would’ve awaited them if they had fallen to the seventh seed. The Niners will now have two weeks to rest up before hosting either Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Green Bay or the Rams again on January 20th or 21st.
GAME NOTES:
The 49ers scored a touchdown on their opening possession for the 10th time this season and have scored an NFL-high 76 points on the opening possession of games this season.
The Niners defense has held opposing offenses without a 100 yard individual rusher in 44 consecutive games dating back to Week 9 of the 2021 season, the second longest streak in the NFL since at least 2000.
Deebo Samuel registered two receptions for 21 yards to go along with one carry for 11 yards on the ground before retiring to the sidelines. With the 32 yards on the day, Samuel now has 4,122 receiving yards and 1,007 rushing yards in his career, making him just the second player in NFL history to record 4,000 or more receiving yards and 1,000 or more rushing yards in the first five seasons of his career, joining Washington Redskins Hall of Fame wide receiver Charley Taylor.
