The Los Angeles Rams lost a disappointing Thursday Night Football matchup against the division rival San Francisco 49ers to drop to 3-2 on the season.
L.A. went into the game as favorites with the 49ers completely depleted by injury, but the Rams got in their own way once again, with several unforced errors including a goal-line fumble from running back Kyren Williams.
Williams had a productive game on the stat sheet, running the ball 14 times for 65 yards while catching eight passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns. However, with the Rams on the 2-yard line and trailing 23-20 in the final minutes, Williams fumbled the ball on what could have been a game-winning touchdown.
L.A. was able to get the ball back and force overtime, but Williams was stuffed on fourth down to give the 49ers the upset victory. After the game, Williams was hyper-critical of his own performance, saying that his mistakes cost L.A. the win.
“Shit sucks. For me, I’ve just got to hold onto the ball,” Williams said. “I feel like I let the team down. At the 1-yard line, not securing the one thing that matters, scoring a touchdown, so I put this all on me, honestly, just know that I can be better.”
Williams has had fumble issues in the past for the Rams and he said there is nothing else to do but work to ensure that mistakes of that nature don’t happen again.
“Shit, go back to work. That’s all we can do,” he said. “Obviously, fumbling the ball is not something you do in football so just got to get back to work and continue believing it and trusting it and knowing I’ll be better for it.”
The Rams’ starting running back even went back to the fumble when he was asked about being stopped on fourth and short in overtime to seal San Francisco’s victory.
“There’s always a chance. I don’t know. We wouldn’t have even got there if I would’ve held onto the ball, honestly.”
L.A. is still considered one of the top contenders in the NFC, but this is now the second time in five weeks that the Rams took a completely winnable game and gave it away with mistakes. Blake Corum also fumbled a pitch from Matthew Stafford, Joshua Karty had yet another kick blocked and the defense gave up 407 yards of total offense to a team missing its starting quarterback, top three receivers, tight end and more.
Sean McVay feels sick about final play call in Rams loss
The Rams dropped to 3-2 on Thursday night when they lost an overtime heartbreaker to the undermanned 49ers.
The Rams came out flat and faced a two-score deficit as a result. They managed to fight their way back and force overtime despite a number of self-inflicted wounds.
Trailing by three in the overtime period, Sean McVay decided to go for it on fourth-and-one from the 49ers 11-yard line. The Rams could have kicked a field goal to tie it but instead went for the win.
That was the right decision considering how much Matthew Stafford and the offense had been cooking in the second half. Unfortunately though, McVay called a run play and Williams was stuffed at the line of scrimmage to end the game, which the head coach immediately regretted.
