SANTA CLARA — The 2024 season will be remembered by the 49ers and their fans for a lot of things, and most of them aren’t good.
They’re not technically eliminated from the playoffs, but since they’re in last place in the NFC West after being swept by their in-state division rivals, you can go ahead and start making plans for late January that don’t include watching the 49ers in the postseason.
The Los Angeles Rams beat the 49ers 12-6 Thursday night in Week 15, just as they did 27-24 in Week 3 back on Sept. 22 in Los Angeles. The Rams beat the 49ers twice and are 8-6. The 49ers are 6-8 and lost to the Rams twice. You do the math.
The same Rams under coach Sean McVay who used to be the 49ers’ foil and a springboard toward better things. There was a time when the 49ers beat the Rams in nine straight regular-season games, with the Rams’ one breakthrough coming in the NFC Championship Game after the 2021 season.
But coach Kyle Shanahan, who got his job the same year McVay was hired after the two had worked together in both Tampa Bay and Washington, was helpless in watching the Rams beat the 49ers at their own game.
They’ve met 17 times now including the playoff games in the Shanahan-McVay era, and the Rams have improved to 7-10.
There wasn’t a lot of offense and zero touchdowns in rain that ranged from heavy to sporadic, but the Rams took over in the second half by playing 49ers football. They ran the ball 20 times, gaining 76 yards. They controlled the clock for 19:29 to the 49ers’ 10:31. It’s the whole rushing attempts formula Shanahan believes in with a fervor.
Rams running back Kyren Williams, who carried 29 times for 101 tough yards, had this to say about sweeping the 49ers for the first time since 2018:
“We’re the big brothers now,” Williams told reporters.
It was no coincidence the Rams took control about the same time Dre Greenlaw was removed from soreness and fatigue to keep him healthy during his first game back from an Achilles tear last Feb. 11 at the Super Bowl. It happened after a first half where Greenlaw surpassed all expectations in coming back from such a serious injury and frankly looked as good as ever.
And about the same time when De’Vondre Campbell decided he wasn’t going to go in for Greenlaw after being removed from the starting lineup.
But this was a winnable game for the 49ers, although maybe not as much as the Week 3 debacle during which they blew a 21-7 lead. It’s too easy to blame the loss on Greenlaw’s departure and Campbell’s lack of heart and poor attitude in what will be his last game in a 49ers uniform.
“Not good enough. I thought we played good enough to win on defense and special teams,” Shanahan said. “We didn’t get the run game going. I thought that was huge. They got the run game going better than we did and we had a couple of opportunities in the pass game and didn’t make those.”
Once again, the 49ers were left to ponder the ones that got away — plays that could have been made for a reversal of fortune that have been made in previous years but not in 2024.
Deommodore Lenoir dropped a potential interception on the Rams’ first series. Talanoa Hufanga, playing with a club on his hand after wrist surgery, dropped one on the Rams’ second series. The 49ers forced punts on those drives but sacrificed in terms of field position.
“We had opportunities. I had an opportunity,” Hufanga said. “I had no excuses to drop a pick. With a club on, doesn’t matter. I got to make those plays. Could have been a game-changing play.”
Deebo Samuel dropped what could have been a 29-yard touchdown pass with 8:28 left in the third quarter and continued a frustrating season of misery with three receptions for 16 yards and two rushes for three yards after a concerted effort to get him the ball early in the game.
And when the Rams got a chance at their own interception, Darious Williams came through in a big way, stealing a too-risky attempt at a 33-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy to Jauan Jennings at the goal line when the 49ers trailed 9-6.
Cornerback Darious Williams of the Rams (24) intercepts a Brock Purdy pass attempted for Jauan Jennings (15) in the fourth quarter. Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group
Purdy was looking to Jennings on a double move, but didn’t see the route develop completely. It was second-and-11 and Ricky Pearsall was open as a checkdown. As good as Purdy has been, he still needs to conquer the perception that he plays poorly in bad weather.
“This one hurt and I’m just trying to comprehend it really still,” Purdy said. “Don’t really know what the whole picture looks like, but we have a lot of guys in the locker room that are going to continue to fight, including myself, for this organization and for our fan base and for each other more than anything to finish out the season in the right way and see where we’re at.”
Defensive end Nick Bosa, who missed the past two games with oblique and hip issues on both sides, was back in the lineup and happy to be there. He didn’t know enough about Campbell declining to play to comment on it, feels good about the way the 49ers will address the remainder of the season and even invoked playing for 2025.
“Obviously it’s slim,” Bosa said regarding the playoffs. “The focus is to win games and put our best out there . . . I think momentum creating in the next few games could be really big in the offseason.”
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After a 38-13 win over the Chicago Bears last week, the buzzwords for the 49ers were urgency and desperation, as if those emotional motivators could be enough to carry them to a 49ers-like finish.
The 49ers had those qualities against the Rams too. Other than Campbell, good luck finding anyone who didn’t put forth maximum effort. They left the field with some semblance of pride intact, but with the knowledge that playmaking and execution are even more important than urgency and desperation.
Playmaking and execution are two things the 49ers have been lacking all season. The Rams weren’t light years better than the 49ers, just good enough to win twice, and did it the season after defensive tackle Aaron Donald retired.
“I’m disappointed with how we played tonight,” Shanahan said. “I thought our guys were ready to play, they played hard. We just didn’t play good enough on offense. We’re going to get away for three days. I want to come back, play better football and challenge the character of our team.”
