The 49ers were outmanned and looked it Sunday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium, as the Rams beat them 42-26 and led nearly wire-to-wire.
Los Angeles scored on its first three possessions, opening up a 21-0 lead. The 49ers (6-4) tightened it to a single-score game multiple times, but the Rams (7-2) answered back on each occasion.
The Niners defense, without captains Fred Warner and Nick Bosa as well as rookie first-rounder Mykel Williams, surrendered 280 passing yards and four touchdowns to Matthew Stafford on 24-of-36 passing. Kyren Williams added 73 yards and two scores on the ground.
George Kittle led San Francisco with 84 receiving yards and a late touchdown, his first game of more than 50 yards this season. Jauan Jennings also had a scoring catch and 71 yards, though he also fumbled in the first half. Christian McCaffrey had 66 yards receiving and 30 more rushing as Brian Robinson Jr. led the 49ers with 41 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.
Mac Jones had just six incompletions on 39 attempts for 319 yards and three touchdowns, but much of that came against soft defense as the Rams sought to protect a second-half lead.
The Niners had two turnovers — Jennings’ fumble and a Jones interception on fourth down — as well as two fourth-down failures on three attempts. The Rams played a clean game with no turnovers and no penalties.
Kyle Shanahan
On the defense and injuries:
I’m never going to put it on one side of the ball, but obviously we are wounded, the D got more guys down over there — that does give the other side a little bit more of an advantage.
On whether he’d play Purdy at less than 100% health:
Yes, it depends on how close to 100% he gets. Our dilemma, or what we’re trying not to do is put him out in the situation we did vs. Jacksonville five weeks ago or six. I do believe he’s closer and further along than he was at that time, so hopefully he’ll have a chance this week.
On Mac Jones’ play today:
Seemed like he played really well, he got rid of the ball, didn’t get caught with it too much, got the ball in the right spots and definitely gave us a chance to win.
On the offensive line:
When you throw it that many times versus that type of pass rush, everyone’s got to be doing a pretty good job to not give up any sacks.
George Kittle
On the offense:
We started the game off with a punt, a fumble, a fourth-down turnover, a touchdown and a punt. Our team is going to have to rely on our really good veteran offense to score a lot of points and not turn the ball over, and we didn’t really do that today. That’s going to be the case moving forward. Our offense has to play at an incredibly high level, score a lot of points and not turn the ball over.
On the offense:
I think our defense is going to get better and better throughout the (year) because we still have a lot of young guys with a lot of guys missing, but we have to help out our defense. That’s just the way the season is going to go. Our offense has to play at a high level, efficient, not turn the the ball over, score points, score in the red zone and then we’ll win a lot of games. But we’re not doing that.
On trading wins and losses:
Stringing wins along is really fun. I will say that win-loss, win-loss is a lot better than last year, when it was just loss, loss, loss, loss, loss. As long as we’re not getting worse as a team, besides the turnovers, our offense was moving the ball. Mac Jones had a heck of a game. … Losing sucks. I hate losing.
On the season-long mentality:
Was that a must-win game? I don’t know. I mean, I want to win every single game, but no, we still have plenty of games in front of us that if we win those, we’ll put ourselves in position to succeed at the end of the season.
On whether he expected Mac Jones to be this good:
No, I did not. Nope. I did not. It’s awesome.
Hell of a football player. I get why he was a first-round draft pick. 33-of-39, whatever the statistic was, that’s a hell of a football game. He is playing really well. He’s not dangerous with the football, either. He makes good throws. He forces a couple every once in a while, but he’s doing a great job.
On keeping his touchdown ball:
I like to keep my touchdown balls because they’re very difficult to score — I’ve learned that through the course of my career. So they’re fun and my wife likes them for decorations.
On whether this team can make a deep run:
We have a lot of talent on this offense, so I thoroughly believe that we can score a ton of points and I really do also believe that our defense will just get a little bit better every single week.
Christian McCaffrey
On Brian Robinson Jr.:
We take a lot of pride in that room being able to do everything, and he brings a great energy, great change of pace to our offense.
On the team’s chances at a playoff run:
Absolutely. I think we can be our own worst enemy sometimes, and I think if we just stay on our P’s and Q’s and continue to be efficient and not have mental errors and other things like that, we have a chance.
Mac Jones
On his completion percentage:
That’s the goal, just be above that 65 or more percent, just keep moving the ball. Didn’t start fast. Last week we started pretty well and when we played (LA) the first time, we were up 14-0, so that wasn’t the case this time. Definitely just want to keep throwing completions and let the guys do the work. Once I get rid of the ball, that’s when we can get yards.
On the NFC West:
It’s definitely a tough conference in my first year playing in it, and at this point we got to try and win every game we play in. Our backs are going to be against the wall again.
On why he signed a two-year deal:
It’s what was presented to me and I wanted to get back to having fun playing football, and I think I’ve done that. Today wasn’t as fun, obviously I still believe that we have the right guys in the locker room.
On whether he’s been thinking about his future:
Not too much to be honest, really. Just try to take it day by day. … I never try to look ahead. It’s hard not to, but I never want to do that. I want to focus on each week and I know how challenging the NFL is, just having played a couple of years and I feel like we have a young team that needs leadership right now. My goal is to lead them and get ready for Arizona.
On the Rams’ defense:
The first game, they just spun the dial on us and played a bunch of different coverages. But this time was definitely more split safety shell and keep it in front of them, just make us drive it.
