Week 8 Post Game Review: 49ers @ Rams

By Scooter_McG

The 49ers ownership of the LA Rams continued Sunday with a resounding second half performance to take the game 31-14 and move back to .500 on the season heading into a week 9 bye. 

Midway through the second quarter it looked like the 49ers may be in for another disappointing afternoon. While the 49ers defense was successful in taking away the Rams running game, the Rams methodically and mercilessly used their screen game to march down the field on their second and third drives to take a 14-7 lead. The Rams, much like the Chiefs the week before, used the 49ers own aggressiveness on defense against them, getting defenders to commit and over-pursue upfield only to see the play quickly get behind them and into the vacated open spaces. 

But in front of a sea of red at the 49ers home away from home, SoFi Stadium, the 49ers defense made the right adjustments and rallied in the second half to put the clamps on the Rams while the offense rattled off 24 unanswered points (including a FG just before the half) to storm home for the victory. 

While the ability to rebound after a rocky start to the game by the defense helped secure the victory, the 49ers offense was the main story in this one. And the headline act was newly acquired RB/ WR (/QB?) Christian McCaffrey, who showed fans exactly why Shanahan and Lynch were willing to give up a bounty of draft picks to get him. All told, he accounted for 183 all-purpose yards (including a 34 yard pass) as well as a triple-crown of TDs - 1 running, 1 receiving and 1 passing on that 34 yarder to Brandon Aiyuk. McCaffrey's receiving TD also gave fans a glimpse of just how talented a pass catcher he can be as he expertly broke up field on the scramble drill and high pointed the ball on the right sideline of the end zone. 

While McCaffrey's day was the headliner, Jimmy Garoppolo also deserves praise for a highly efficient performance as he completed 84% of his passes for 235 yards and 2 beautiful TD throws that demonstrated both excellent precision with ball placement as well as awareness of the field. Yes, there were two passes that could easily have been intercepted, but we've become accustomed to that being part of the Jimmy G experience. Aside from those two plays though, and one deep ball he was late on to Ray Ray McCloud on the first drive, Garoppolo was excellent. 

Something that became evident early in this game is how McCaffrey really allows Shanahan to use the short passing game as an extension of the running game in a different way than we've become accustomed to with Deebo. While the run-pass mix reads as being almost 50%-50% for the day, McCaffrey and Wilson had a number of catches that were at or just past the line of scrimmage that they were able to turn into decent yardage gainers very easily to stay ahead of the sticks. And as the game wore on, the Rams started cheating players over to McCaffrey which opened up holes in the defense for Kittle and Aiyuk - which was evident in the TD to Kittle as Taylor Rapp didn't get proper depth due to the threat of McCaffrey underneath.

Moving forward, I can't wait to see how Shanahan incorporates the trio of McCaffrey, Deebo and Juice into the game plan.

The win puts the 49ers in second place in the NFC West, one game behind the surprise Seahawks, and the 7th seed in the NFC. In addition to the big and important victory, the 49ers also came out of the game with the good news of no new injuries heading into the bye. The 49ers now get the opportunity to rest up, get some of their troops back, and get McCaffrey more acclimated within the offense.