Entering Sunday's 2015 regular season finale, a few things were on the line for the San Francisco 49ers and their long-time rivals the St. Louis Rams. A win for the 49ers would mean they would avoid their worst finish since 2005 when the franchise finished with a record of 4-12. As for the Rams who could be playing football in southern California as early as next season while relocating from St. Louis to Los Angeles, a win would make it four straight victories in what's been a disappointing year for Jeff Fisher and company.
After being blown out, 27-6 in the first meeting between bitter foes, the 49ers kept it close and took a 7-3 lead after QB Blaine Gabbert connected with Anquan Boldin who broke free of a tackle and trotted into the end zone on the first play of the second quarter. Getting his second start in as many weeks at running back for the Niners was DuJuan Harris who had himself an all around nice game. Harris broke off a big gain in the second quarter that went for 48-yards and set up the first of Phil Dawson's four field goals on the afternoon. Leading 10-3, the Rams would quickly respond with scores on each of their next three drives. A pair of Greg Zuerlein field goals and a Tre Mason touchdown run from 4-yards out would put St. Louis ahead. Gabbert had a pass batted in the air and intercepted for a 42-yard return which set up the Rams' lone touchdown just two plays later. Trailing 16-10 at halftime, the 49ers would keep the Rams scoreless in the second half.
After inching closer with a field goal in the third, San Francisco tied it up with another in the fourth as the game was sent to overtime with both teams knotted up at 16. With San Francisco failing to score on the opening possession during overtime, St. Louis appeared to be on their way to a fourth consecutive victory as Zuerlein stepped up with a chance to win it with a 48-yard field goal. But after missing wide right from 52-yards earlier in the game, the day would go from bad to worse for Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein who had the potential game-winner blocked by second-year corner Dontae Johnson. The block would keep the Niners alive and give them one final chance to finish the season on top. With under five minutes to go, Gabbert completed a pass to receiver Quinton Patton who broke a tackle and nearly took it to the house before being stopped short of the end zone. The 33-yard reception would be all Phil Dawson needed in what could be his final game as a Niner, as he split the uprights one for the game-winning 23-yard field goal which led to hugs and high-fives all around. Gabbert threw for a career-high 354 yards and a touchdown, with 86 of those yards going to DuJuan Harris who led all receivers. The free-agent-to-be and journeyman who was signed to five different teams this season, rushed for a game-high 67 yards on 16 carries.
Unfortunately, one Niner would walk off the field a winner but would leave the stadium jobless. Despite the 19-16 overtime win, Niners head coach Jim Tomsula was relieved of his head coaching duties just hours after the game. In his only season at the helm, San Francisco finished 5-11 under the rookie head coach who spent a total of nine seasons with the organization, serving as the team's defensive-line coach. With the 49ers head coaching vacancy now the main focus of the offseason, who they nab next is anyone's guess at this point. But that hasn't stopped some of the early candidates from surfacing with such names as Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Hue Jackson and Adam Gase leading the pack, as well as the recently fired Chip Kelly who on Sunday was bounced from Philly after three seasons. As for some positive news, linebacker NaVorro Bowman added another nine tackles on Sunday to add to his league-leading 154 tackles and was named to the Pro Bowl. It might not be the last we hear of Bowman's name this year, however, as he's a prime candidate to win the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year Award after missing the entire 2014 season following his major knee injury suffered in the NFC title game two seasons ago.
2016 Preview - With the 2015 regular season in the books, the regular season opponents for 2016 have been announced as the 49ers will host the following: Saints, Buccaneers, Patriots, Jets, Cowboys, Cardinals, Rams and Seahawks. Meanwhile, they'll hit the road to face the following: Falcons, Panthers, Bills, Bears, Dolphins, Cardinals, Rams and Seahawks. As for April's Draft, the 49ers sit in the top 10, owning the no. 7 pick.
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Having played some of their best football over the past two weeks with a dominant win at home over the Chicago Bears and a stellar outing on the road against the Saints, the 49ers payed a visit to St. Louis where they'd take on the division rival Rams. Despite the mismatch of records as San Francisco entered Sunday's game at 8-2-1 compared to St. Louis' 4-6-1, with the way the game played out you'd think this was a battle for first place in the division. And with their first meeting this season ending in a 24-24 tie three weeks ago at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, the 49ers knew not to underestimate the Rams. And just like in their first meeting in week 10, four quarters wouldn't be enough to determine a winner.
With little to cheer for from either side in the first half, the only scoring in the first two quarters would come on a 1-yard touchdown run from Frank Gore, putting the 49ers up 7-0 where the score would remain going into the half as Rams rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a field goal from 58-yards out, failing to put St. Louis on the board. With Colin Kaepernick doing a lot of running with little to show for in the first three quarters, the Rams defense would force the young quarterback into a safety to make it a 7-2 ballgame. After a David Akers field goal made it 10-2 in favor of San Francisco, the St. Louis defense forced Kaepernick to make yet another costly mistake, this time in the form of a fumble as he threw an errant pitch over the head of Ted Ginn Jr. which Rams cornerback Janoris Jenkins scooped up and returned into the end zone from 2 yards out for St. Louis' only touchdown on the day. Following a successful two-point conversion, the Rams found themselves in a tie game thanks to their defense.
With sub-par performances from both quarterback's, both team's would depend on the leg of their kickers who would also see better days. Though David Akers would hit his first two field goal attempts including one that gave the 49ers a 13-10 lead in the fourth quarter before St. Louis answered with a field goal of their own, he would miss the third try with the game on the line. As the game went into overtime, both teams failed to score on their first two possessions. With a chance to win the game, Akers missed wide right from 51 yards out. Hoping to capitalize on the 49ers blown opportunity and in good field position, the Rams offense would only need to move the chains once to get into Greg Zuerlein territory where he would be given a chance to make up for his missed field goal earlier in the game. And with just 30 seconds remaining, the rookie out of Missouri Western would do just that, splitting the uprights from 54 yards out to lead his team to a 16-13 victory, avoiding becoming the first pair of teams to tie twice in the same season since the 1963 Eagles & Steelers and handing the 49ers only their third loss of the season.
Having now given the 49ers a tough outing in both of their meetings this season which resulted in a loss and a tie, I think it's safe to say Jeff Fisher has Jim Harbaugh's number and should not only help St. Louis improve moving forward but also breath life back into this long lived 49ers-Rams rivalry. For San Francisco, the loss to a weaker opponent will only add more fuel to an already hot fire as the quarterback controversy will continue to spark for another week.
Week 14 Preview: With their two-game road trip in which they finished 1-1 finally coming to an end, the 49ers hope to get back on winning track at home where they'll take on the 5-7 Miami Dolphins. With a rookie quarterback in Ryan Tannenhill on tap for Miami, the 49ers should be in store for a dominant game on defense, but will in no way be able to sleep on running back Reggie Bush who had one of the best games of his career against the 49ers back in 2006 while with the Saints. In that '06 meeting Bush compiled 168-all purpose yards and went on to tie a single-game franchise record by scoring four touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Though a similar performance is highly unlikely against this stout 49ers run defense which has allowed an average of only 90.6 yards on the ground, you know the star back out of USC is going to try to duplicate that performance. Unfortunately for him, I have him failing to put up similar numbers and see the 49ers winning 27-13.
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