49ers at Los Angeles Rams

Eddy Pineiro hit a 41-yard field goal in overtime and Alfred Collins stopped Kyren Williams on fourth and 1 to give the short-handed 49ers a 26-23 win at SoFi Stadium. The 49ers played without Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings; Mac Jones threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns through a leg injury. Kendrick Bourne caught 10 passes for a career-high 142 yards. Collins, a rookie backup lineman, forced and recovered a Williams fumble at the goal line with 1:05 left in regulation. Matthew Stafford threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns for Los Angeles.[1][2][3]

There were Sundays last year when the 49ers could not find a way. Thursday night in Los Angeles, with the starting quarterback in street clothes and the best pass rusher in red, the kind of Sunday they used to lose, they found a way.

Alfred Collins is a rookie offensive lineman who is sometimes a backup defensive tackle and was sometimes neither, the kind of name that does not show up in box scores until he ends a game. With Kyren Williams an inch from the end zone and 1:05 left, the score 23-23, the 49ers' season hovering somewhere between a fork in the road and a tire fire, Collins put his helmet on the football. 'It was a must-have-it play, because if I did not do that, they would have scored,' Collins said. 'When I saw the ball, I cocked it back and hit it.'

Mac Jones, leg injury and all, drove the offense into Pineiro's range in overtime. Pineiro made the kick from 41. Then the defense got Sean McVay's call wrong on fourth and 1, or rather got McVay's call right, the bear front that stopped a Kyren Williams run McVay would later admit was the wrong call to make. 'I am pretty sick right now,' McVay said. 'I am sick of the spot that I put our group in to end the game.'

The 49ers had no business winning this football game. They won. 4-1, with two NFC West wins, both on the road. The kind of Sunday they used to lose.

49ers 26, Rams 23 (OT). Margin: +3. Five-game record: 4-1, +8 differential.

• Mac Jones: 26-of-39 for 342, 2 TD, 1 INT, through a leg injury.
• Kendrick Bourne: 10 catches for 142, career-high receiving day.
• Stafford: 24-of-36 for 389, 3 TD.
• Puka Nacua: 8 catches; first receiver in NFL history with 50+ catches in his team's first five games.
• Pineiro OT game-winner: 41 yards.
• Alfred Collins: forced fumble + recovery at the goal line, 1:05 left in regulation.
• Defense on 4th-and-1 in OT: stopped Williams for no gain.
• 49ers 4-1, 2-0 NFC West road; Rams 3-2.

A 26-23 overtime win at SoFi Stadium. The 49ers improve to 4-1.

How it unfolded

Matthew Stafford and the Rams scored on their opening drive. Pineiro answered with a field goal. The teams traded scores all evening: Stafford to Adams from 11 yards out, McCaffrey on a 9-yard run, Stafford to Nacua from 17, Jones to Tonges from 16. The Rams led 17-13 at the half. Mac Jones and Kendrick Bourne, the latter not a starter on most rosters in the building, kept finding two-deep windows. A second Jones touchdown throw, this one to Robbie Chosen, tied the game in the third. Stafford's 21-yard touchdown to Adams in the fourth gave Los Angeles a 23-20 lead. Pineiro tied it at 23 with a 47-yarder. The Rams drove inside the 49ers' 5 with 1:05 left, then Alfred Collins put his helmet on the football at the goal line. In overtime, Mac Jones drove 56 yards, Pineiro hit from 41, and the defense stopped Williams on a Sean-McVay-second-guessed fourth-and-1.

The turning point

Alfred Collins, 1:05 left, fourth-quarter goal-line stand. Without that play the Rams kneel out a regulation win. With it, the game is tied and the 49ers get the ball back. 'It was a must-have-it play,' Collins said. 'When I saw the ball, I cocked it back and hit it.'

By the numbers

Mac Jones 26-of-39 for 342, two TDs, one INT, all through a visible leg injury. Bourne 10 for 142, the receiver-room flex pulling the Rams' coverages apart. Stafford 24-of-36 for 389 with three TDs. McCaffrey 139 total yards. Nacua eight catches, putting him at 50 for the season and into the NFL record book.

Personnel watch

With Purdy out and four other names off the depth chart, the 49ers' identity Thursday was Bourne, McCaffrey, and a 50-50 mix of every healthy receiver. Alfred Collins, the rookie tackle, made the play of the game. Robert Saleh's pass rush, without Bosa for a fourth straight game, still got home for the takedown that mattered.

What it means

4-1 with two NFC West road wins and the worst injury report in the league. The Sundays the 49ers should have lost are not losses yet. The Buccaneers come up next, two weeks of rest after a short Thursday week.