49ers news: The 2-minute collapse that changed the outcome of the game

Before the MVPs, the championships, and the global superstardom, one of Stephen Curry’s career’s marquee games happened in 2013. Against the New York Knicks, Curry scored 54 points on 11-of-13 from three at Madison Square Garden—the first of many all-time performances by one of the all-time NBA greats.

But Curry’s performance gets lost in history a bit. Why? Because Curry’s 54-point game happened in a losing effort. Despite Curry’s greatness, the Warriors fell to the Knicks 109-105.

Jauan Jennings played the Stephen Curry role on Sunday in the 49ers loss to the Rams. Despite putting up a Rice-esque stat line, Jennings’ breakout game wasn’t enough, with the San Francisco 49ers falling to the Los Angeles Rams, 27-24, on a last-second field goal.

It’s a tough game to review, but we must, and we’ll start with the brightest spot for the 49ers:

The Jauan Jennings game

Jennings finished Sunday with 11 receptions for 175 yards and three touchdowns. Let’s see which other players in 49ers history have had a game with at least 11 receptions, 175 yards, and three receiving touchdowns:

• Jerry Rice, Week 6, 1990: 13 receptions, 225 yards, five touchdowns
• Jerry Rice, Week 16, 1995: 14 receptions, 289 yards, three touchdowns
• Jennings on Sunday

Sunday was the evolution of Jennings from the “third-and-Jauan” persona to proving himself as a legitimate option in an offense chock-full of options. Without McCaffrey, Samuel, and Kittle, and with Brandon Aiyuk as the presumed No. 1 option entering the game, Jennings wasted no time getting involved. Both of San Francisco’s first two drives ended with Jennings finding the endzone to give the 49ers an early 14-0 lead.

His third score would come midway in the third quarter–to again give the 49ers a two-score lead– and look just how open his was getting on Sunday, with examples from his first two scores:

In a game without most of the offense’s big-brand name players, they might have created another one.

And yet, it didn’t matter.

Oh yeah, and Brock Purdy was really good, too

Not to be lost in Jennings’ massive performance, but Purdy had his best game of the early season.

Purdy threw for 292 yards with three touchdowns on 22-of-30 passes, with plenty left on the table because of drops. There’s a perception that Purdy is a product of the weapons around him, but on Sunday, Purdy showed he can sling it with his limited options.

After leading the 49ers to an opening drive touchdown, Purdy would hit Jennings for the first chunk play, a gain of 34 over the middle of the field to move the ball into plus-territory. After a Trent Williams holding, Purdy would utilize the depth a couple of plays later, finding tight end Eric Saubert on the sideline for a gain of 16. Purdy would throw his second touchdown of the game several plays after that.

Purdy’s lone blemish of the game was when Byron Young beat Colton McKivitz off of snap and forced a strip sack recovered by the Rams right before the half. The quarterback bounced back, throwing for 54 yards on the next drive, including a deep pass to a wide-open Jennings that gave the 49ers a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter. Even as the game got closer, Purdy stayed consistent and kept the offense moving to set up two field goal attempts that could put the 49ers up two scores.

Yes, there was the one play that appeared Purdy was looking at a wide-open Aiyuk downfield, and the drops were bad—we will get to that drop—but all in all, Purdy looked and played the part of a top-tier quarterback, an encouraging sign after last week’s loss.

And yet, it didn’t matter.

The drive of the game

Again, it’s not which drive was the best by numbers but the one that impressed me the most, so while the 11-play, 91-yard, touchdown-scoring drive to start the second half might have been the best, it lacked the pizzazz I look for.

But the 49ers’ next drive is the stuff right there.

The 13-play, 62-yard, field goal-scoring drive had a little of everything. The drive opened with Purdy taking a deep shot to Jennings, who went up and did his best Randy Moss impression over Quentin Lake for a gain of 32. After a Jake Brendel penalty set the drive back, San Francisco faced a third-and-4 where Purdy felt slight pressure from his right. He was able to roll left before a pump fake got Lake to leave his feet, allowing the quarterback to scramble for the first down.

Shanahan called on Purdy for another third-down attempt with an attempted quarterback sneak to get the first. Purdy fumbled the ball, which the Rams recovered, but the review gave the ball back to the 49ers, ruling that Purdy was short of the marker, setting up a fourth down. The 49ers went to the Eagles page of the playbook, calling a tush push to extend the drive further.

The drive stalled after that, and a 26-yard Jake Moody field goal put San Francisco up ten points with 11:57 remaining. It was not the most productive drive, but it was eventful nonetheless and gave the 49ers a cushion as time waned.

And yet, it didn’t matter.

A two-minute, 47-second collapse

It started with a 55-yard Moody miss.

Moody was called on to attempt a 55-yard field goal to put the 49ers up 10 with 2:47 left in the game. The snap and hold were good, but the kick started left, stayed left, and missed left, leaving the door slightly ajar for the Rams.

But missed field goals happen, so long as there isn’t a catastrophic mistake right after. But there was. Stafford found Tutu Atwell streaking downfield the next play for a gain of 50 to put the Rams on the doorstep of tying. Two plays later, the Rams would knock the door down with a Kyren Williams touchdown run to tie the game with 111 seconds remaining.

All the 49ers would need is a drive that gets them into field goal range to try to sneak out of Los Angeles with a win, and with how Purdy was playing on Sunday, that wasn’t too big of an ask. And Purdy made the throw that would have gotten the 49ers into field goal range, but unfortunately, it was dropped.

Missing as many players on offense as the 49ers were on Sunday affects not only the top of the depth chart but everybody at the bottom moves up a spot. So when Purdy uncorked his second-down deep shot to get into field goal range, instead of targeting a George Kittle or a Jauan Jennings, it was a target for Ronnie Bell. And with a chance to potentially make a big play to set up a 49ers win, the moment appeared too big, and Bell dropped the ball at the 27-yard-line, and two plays later, San Francisco had to punt.

The fact about the 49ers’ special teams’ blunders is that they don’t happen one at a time; that would be too easy. They always occur in bunches. The Rams fake punt conversion earlier in the game and Moody’s miss in no way would be enough, so the punt team also had to get involved in the misfortune. The Mitch Wishnowsky 43-yard punt would get returned by Xavier Smith for 38 yards to set the Rams offense right at midfield.

Before the sheer thought of the 49ers’ defense making a stop could cross the mind, Stafford threw a pass up for Colby Parkinson that 49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell would get called for pass interference on, and the Rams were in field goal range with less than 30 seconds left. Joshua Karty would hit the 37-yard field goal, and the Rams would walk away with the win.

San Francisco took its first lead of the game with 11:12 left in the first quarter and held that lead all the way through but could never quite pull away from Los Angeles. The Rams would take its first lead of the game with two seconds remaining, and that was enough.

And ultimately, that’s what mattered.