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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Fred Warner, still in full pads and uniform long after the 49ers’ stunning, 26-23 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Rams, powered through the locker room with the same determination that he’d delivered on the ferocious, game-sealing, fourth-down stop.

Warner was striding. Warner was beaming. Warner was yelling to any teammates who’d listen — and many were all ears in that cramped, jovial room.

“We could tell they were going to run,” Warner said, “and we stuffed them.”

In the defining moment, on fourth down and one with the game on the line in overtime, the Rams decided to test a pronounced 49ers’ weakness. And Warner, who’d fueled the multi-year rise of this defense before suffering through its recent two-year decline, took that personally.

He saw how tense L.A.’s linemen were as they dug into their three-point stances. He sensed that one last, decisive flash of muscle-on-muscle warfare was coming. He knew that the golden 49ers’ opportunity — a chance for atonement, reversal, and victory — was at hand.

“I don’t even know if my intention was to make a play,” Warner said. “It was just to blow it up and make it muddy.”

A slew of other 49ers sniffed blood in the water. They joined Warner in making sure that Rams running back Kyren Williams would not see daylight. Defensive back Chase Lucas might’ve been the most prominent initial torpedo, locking in on the C-gap and demolishing L.A.’s chances at the point of attack.

Lucas was also giddy in the locker room, pointing out that the 49ers debuted a new Cover-2 look just for that snap. But he was more eager to talk about 49ers quarterback Mac Jones, who’d flawlessly executed the only game plan with a chance to lead the shorthanded 49ers to victory.

“Mac Jones,” Lucas said, “I’m going to get his jersey, for sure.”

Jones had gone 33-of-49 for 342 yards and two touchdowns. The 49ers again struggled to run the ball, mustering just 2.2 yards per carry, but Jones stared down the barrel of L.A.’s ferocious pass rush undaunted. The 49ers converted 10 third and fourth downs and racked up more than 35 minutes of possession in regulation, successfully executing the ball-hogging formula needed to erase the Rams’ advantage in the explosiveness department.

Jones’ favorite target was Kendrick Bourne, his teammate from the duo’s days with the New England Patriots. Jones and Bourne connected 10 times for 142 yards, helping erase the wideout’s nightmarish three-drop performance in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars just four days prior.

“Last week was very tough on me,” Bourne said. “Just the adversity I went through, the standard I hold myself to and just the things I want to do for my teammates, for the fans, for the organization. So today was a blessing.

“Collectively, we played sound.”

After giving the ball away four times on Sunday, the 49ers didn’t turn it over a single time against the Rams. Instead, L.A. made the game’s losing plays, fumbling away two balls.

The biggest one came with just 75 seconds to play, when 49ers rookie defensive tackle Alfred Collins — a massive man with size 18 shoes — delivered a punch that would make a prize fighter blush.

Collins knocked the ball away from Williams just before the running back crossed the goal line. Then, he also recovered the fumble — a moment that served as another gargantuan statement for the 49ers’ promising rookie class.

In previous weeks, defensive lineman Mykel Williams and cornerback Upton Stout had made huge early contributions. This time, it was Collins. And he was soon followed by rookie safety Marques Sigle, who combined with Deommodore Lenoir to officially stuff Williams on that deciding fourth down.

And with that, the 49ers are 4-1 and 3-0 in the NFC West (they won only one division game in 2024) — ready for an extended rest ahead of Week 6 in Tampa Bay. They earned it after two bruising games in five days, played amid a tidal wave of injury uncertainty at key positions.

It’s tough to picture the Rams (who are the healthiest team in the NFL right now) hanging in this game without QB Matthew Stafford, receivers Puka Nacua, Davante Adams and Tutu Atwell, and star edge rusher Jared Verse — but the 49ers essentially overcame that injury equivalent to win.

“I love this team, man,” said 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, who forced a career-high 12 missed tackles in another clutch dual-threat performance. “I love the character of this team. There are so many things that happen in this league. The NFL is like the best reality show, because there are so many different things that happen throughout a week, and it makes it so entertaining.”

Forget the week — so many different things happened in just over three hours on Thursday night. And somehow, the 49ers came out of the dust storm victorious.

There were the obviously massive plays. Think those defensive stops and key early touchdowns for tight end Jake Tonges and McCaffrey, or the booming 59-yard field goal courtesy 49ers kicker Eddy Piñeiro. There were less heralded ones, like Jordan Elliott’s blocked extra point, which helped preserve the tie as time dwindled in regulation.

All of them proved to be vital in yet another heartrending 49ers’ victory, one that had Warner and other superstars striding through the locker room with massive smiles on their faces.

“When you’re on a team like this with this kind of character,” McCaffrey said, “it makes it fun.”