The San Francisco 49ers were dominated for most of the first half of Monday night’s game against the St. Louis Rams. However, a boneheaded play by the Rams allowed the 49ers to get jump-started before the halftime and San Francisco outscored the Rams by a 24-3 margin over the final 31 minutes of the game to earn a 31-17 victory.
Austin Davis helped the Rams start fast against San Francisco. Davis was 4-for-4 for 56 yards on the drive, completing passes to four different receivers, on the opening drive and Benjamin Cunningham scored from 1-yard out to give the Rams a 7-0 lead.
After a fumble by Vance McDonald give the ball back to St. Louis, Davis hit tight end Lance Kendricks for a 22-yard touchdown as the Rams too a two-score lead.
The Rams were 30 seconds away from taking a 14-3 lead into halftime over the 49ers before a massive blunder helped get San Francisco back in the game.
With the 49ers facing 3rd and 6 on their own 20-yard line and just 27 seconds left in the first half, cornerback Janoris Jenkins blew a coverage as he bit on an out-and-up move from Brandon Lloyd.
Colin Kaepernick hit Lloyd in stride and Jenkins couldn’t recover as Lloyd scored an 80-yard touchdown to close the gap to just 14-10 at halftime.
San Francisco then began the second half with the football and quickly marched to take the lead. Kaepernick connected with Anquan Boldin for an 11-yard touchdown to cap a 12-play, 75-yard drive to give the 49ers a 17-14 lead.
Kaepernick followed it up with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree to extend the 49ers lead to 24-14 late in the third quarter.
Kaepernick had one of his best performances of the season so far. He finished 22 of 36 for 343 yards and three touchdowns for the 49ers.
Greg Zuerlein’s 38-yard field goal pulled the Rams within a score, 24-17, with 2:24 left to play. After a failed onside kick attempt, the Rams forced a three-and-out and managed to get one more offensive series with just over a minute left to play.
But Davis was intercepted by Dontae Johnson for a 20-yard touchdown to seal the game for the 49ers.
Davis was shut down in the second half by San Francisco. He completed just 10 of 28 passes for 99 yards and an interception after the break.
