Week 10: 49ers, Rams draw blanks, Game ends in Tie

With the San Francisco 49ers coming off their bye week, Sunday's meeting against the division rival St. Louis Rams was expected to be just another day at the office for Jim Harbaugh's squad. Instead it would turn out to be anything but as both teams struggled to best one another in a game that would surpass the 4-hour mark and head to overtime. But even an extra quarter wouldn't be enough to help decide a winner as the Rams and 49ers became the latest teams to have their game end in a tie.

With St. Louis also fresh off a bye week, the 49ers looked as if they were still on theirs in the game's early going as the Rams jumped out to an early 14-0 lead. Former number one overall draft pick Sam Bradford showed no signs of intimidation against the league's number one ranked defense as he and Pro Bowl running back Stephen Jackson who eclipsed the 100-yard mark, marched down the field with ease on St. Louis' first two drives on offense. After being shutout in the first quarter, Alex Smith and the 49ers offense began to show signs of life as Smith found a wide-open Michael Crabtree for a 14-yard touchdown to put San Francisco on the board. But not before Smith had his bell rung with a shot to the head a few plays earlier when trying to scramble for a first down. Though Smith managed to complete the drive, he showed signs of discomfort while on the sideline and was escorted to the medical facility where he was later treated for a concussion. 

With the NFL's ruling on concussions and blows to the head as strict as ever, Smith would be unable to return and saw his day come to an early end as backup Colin Kaepernick prepared to take over the quarterback duties. After a successful college career for the Nevada Wolf Pack where he had just as much success running the ball as he did passing, Kaepernick would showcase his running ability in the fourth quarter. Trailing 17-7, coach Harbaugh drew up a run play for his second year QB who ran it in from 7-yards out to bring his team within a field goal. Having played 3+ quarters of turnover-free football, the game would then see its first hiccup from either team as the Rams fumbled on the ensuing kickoff, setting up San Francisco for a chance to take their first lead of the game. On the very next play Frank Gore would do just that, dashing into the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown run to put his team on top, 21-17.

After a miraculous turn of events that saw everything including the momentum shift in San Francisco's favor, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher would then go to his bag of tricks. With San Francisco awaiting a punt, Fisher had other plans as St. Louis' special team burnt that of the 49ers by converting on not one but two fake punts in the ball game, the second coming with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. Several plays after their display of trickery, Bradford found a wide-open Austin Pettis in the back of the end zone to reclaim the lead. In need of a field goal to tie or a touchdown to win, Kaepernick would be called upon to put together some late-game heroics with just over a minute remaining. And with a number of short passes and runs of his own, Kaepernick would setup kicker David Akers for a 33-yard field goal to send the game into overtime tied, 24-24.

But it would be in overtime where both teams struggled to put anymore points across the board as both team's kickers had chances at winning the game with field goals but failed. Greg Zuerlein who missed from 58 yards out after earlier knocking down a 27 yarder and David Akers who with the exception of his week 1 performance against Green Bay has been a ghost of his 2011 self, having missed six field goals already this season including a 41 yard try in OT which is usually a chip shot for him, would both fail to get their team a win on Sunday. With both teams unable to score in overtime, the 49ers and Rams would play to the NFL's first tie in 4 years (first since Eagles vs Bengals in 2008), an oddity in today's game. While the 49ers remain atop the NFC West at 6-2-1, a game ahead of the 6-4 Seattle Seahawks, the Rams sit at 3-5-1 behind the 4-5 Arizona Cardinals.

Week 11 Preview: With the exception of their week 7 meeting with the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers have yet to run into a team that's better known for their defense than they are for their offense. That's exactly what they'll see in week 11 against the visiting 7-2 Chicago Bears on ESPN's Monday Night Football in a battle of NFC heavyweights. While defense is expected to steal the spotlight, the game could very well be a face off between backup QB's. Though it's currently unknown as to whether or not 49ers QB Alex Smith will be cleared by doctors to play on Monday, Chicago will be without quarterback Jay Cutler who also suffered a concussion last week and will be replaced by backup Jason Campbell. But unlike Campbell who's been a starter in the league for the past six seasons, Kaepernick is inexperienced outside of the handful of snaps he's taken this year and has yet to face a defense of this caliber. With the Bears defense leading the league with 30 turnovers and 19 interceptions, the second-round pick out of Nevada could be in for a long day if he's given the nod. But if Smith gets the green light, I like the 49ers chances of bouncing back from their sloppy performance on Sunday and coming out on top, 20-10.


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