49ers exposed in humiliating loss to Rams

In what was the first true test for the Red and Gold, the Los Angeles Rams dominated in a 42-26 rout of San Francisco on a warm sunny fall Sunday afternoon at Levi's Stadium.

The win improved the Rams record to 7-2 and they are tied atop of the NFC West Standings with the Seattle Seahawks who pummeled the Arizona Cardinals 44-22. San Francisco fell to 6-4 and currently is on the outside looking in with the eighth spot in the conference. The 49ers are half a game behind the NFC Central's Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions who are tied for the seventh and final playoff spot at 6-3.

Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford and his offense put on a clinic throughout the afternoon with methodical drives that led to six overall touchdowns. Three of them were on their first three possessions that gave them a 21-0 lead, and they never looked back.

"We knew it'd be a big challenge going in," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "We know how good they are, but we thought we could slow them down and find a way to get off on third down. We obviously didn't do that very well. We did it twice there in the first half, got none in the second half. Thought we had a chance down there in the red zone when (Rams quarterback Matthew) Stafford scrambled; we came up to get him and gave him a touchdown there. But it wasn't anything really in particular. Just not good enough.”

Defensively, the 49ers and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh had absolutely no answers for Rams head coach Sean McVey's playbook. McVey exposed San Francisco's depleted defense that has been missing Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. The lack of depth on the defensive side of the ball was magnified by the high-powered Rams offense. It makes one wonder if they General Manager should have ponied up the money to keep linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga, both who are having a career resurgence in Denver after healing from their own past injuries.

Stafford loved connecting with his receiver Davante Adams, which will go as the best steal in free agency this season, as they connected six times for 77 yards and one touchdown. McVey designed a crossing route for Adams who was open on the flat inside the end zone and Stafford floated the ball right into hands of Adams for his league leading ninth touchdown of the season late in the third quarter to give the Rams a 14-point lead.

“We just didn’t execute," said 49ers linebacker Tatum Bethune who didn't mix words. "That’s it. There’s no real explanation. We just have to play harder and get the job done.”

Los Angeles' balanced offensive attack had four different receivers catch touchdown passes, including seldom used tight end Davis Allen. When Stafford wasn't throwing for four touchdowns torching the 49ers secondary, Kyren Williams had an efficient day on the ground with 73 yards rushing on 14 carries to go along with his two touchdowns on the day. Overall San Francisco's defense, that didn't even get a sniff of pressure on Stafford, gave up 401 total yards to the Rams.

“I’m really proud of our group," said a satisfied McVey. "They came out ready to go today. Total team effort. I thought the offense started fast. (Lineback Nate) Landman's forced turnover to allow us to go up 21. There was a little bit of a lull right there and then, you know, we bounced back. I thought we were able to control, for the most part, possession of the second half. Defense came up with big stops."

As far as the 49ers offense went, it didn't do much better and had a bad first half with a fumble by wide receiver Jauan Jennings and a turnover on downs after the Rams stuffed running back Christian McCaffery running a sweep on a 4th-on-1.

Quarterback Mac Jones was pressured throughout the game by the Rams front four and his stat line of 33-of-39 for 319 yards and three touchdowns were overshadowed by his defense's poor play.

I've been critical of Shanahan when he doesn't give McCaffery at least 25 touches during the game. Run CMC only had 12 carries for 30 yards while backup running back Brian Robinson Jr. led the team with 41 yards on eight carries. However, Shanahan had to abandon the running game once the Rams jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half.

Another stat line that was more of an afterthought was George Kittle's nine receptions for 84 yards to lead all receivers, including a nice tight rope job along the sideline to stay inbounds before lunging for the pylon and a 13-yard touchdown reception where he was wide open in the flat.

"Our offense has to play at a high level, efficient, not turn the ball over, score points, score in the red zone, and then we'll win a lot of games. But if we're not doing that, that's not going to happen," Kittle said.

The silver lining for San Francisco is their schedule. The next three games will have them with tilts against the Cardinals, a Monday night game versus the Carolina Panthers and then the Cleveland Browns. Theseare all winnable games on paper, but on the field could be a different story if the defense continues to give up long scoring drives to the opposing offense.

Quarterback Brock Purdy may return to the lineup this week against Arizona if his turf toe injury continues to improve. Jones has been playing well since taking over the starter so having the $265 million dollar man back under center would be provide a bit of a boost but not a major one.

"I believe it could have come down to the end if we played a little bit better on offense in the first half. Obviously, D’s got to get a stop there in the second half. But, I still think we could have made that a game. I told them, ‘I believe that we can find a way to win any game that we're in, but if we hurt ourselves like that, seven penalties to zero, not getting off on third down, I think they were five-of-five in the red zone and then the offense having two turnovers and they're having zero you make that pretty tough on yourself,” Shanahan conceded after the game.