The Los Angeles Rams hosted the San Francisco 49ers for Thursday Night Football, an important game for both teams as they entered the matchup with 3-1 records.
Divisional games are always tough for teams because of the familiarity, but historically in the regular season the Rams have struggled against 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. Los Angeles entered the Week 5 tilt as big favorites as San Francisco ruled out several of their key starters including Brock Purdy, but it the 49ers quickly reminded Rams fans that they are still a force to reckoned with.
Although Matthew Stafford led several offensive drives to force overtime, the Rams still came up short and lost to the 49ers, 26-23. Stafford had a chance to lead another game-winning drive, but Kyren Williams was stood up on a fourth-and-1 play near the goal line that resulted in a turnover on downs.
While Stafford admitted it was frustrating to lose, he said he supported the play call at the time.
“That’s a bread-and-butter short-yardage rush for us so I didn’t have any problem with it,” Stafford said. “That’s trusting our guys to go out there and make a play. They did a nice job of stopping it. Frustrating that we didn’t get it. Wish I would’ve done more and found a way to help us win.”
Head coach Sean McVay could’ve sent out the field goal unit to tie the game at 26-26, but Stafford was happy they went for it to try and win the game then and there.
“I love that we went for it. We’re not playing for a tie. Let’s go. Just wish we kept the drive alive and found a way to score.”
McVay has drawn criticism for being too pass-happy at times, but now must deal with the consequences of calling a run in that situation when Stafford was playing well. It seemed like San Francisco’s secondary had no answer for the passing game, so it was off to see McVay take the football out of Stafford’s hands on such a critical down.
Regardless of the result, the Rams need to learn from this game if they hope to make up ground in the standings.
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