49ers-Rams instant reaction: Alfred Collins’ punch, Marques Sigle’s stop keys OT upset

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It wasn’t a diving catch from Ricky Pearsall, a leaping grab from Jauan Jennings, or a one-handed snare from George Kittle that 49ers fans will point to as the reason their team secured a 26-23 overtime win over the Rams on Thursday.

None of that was possible in Los Angeles.

No, the 49ers’ offensive stars were all sidelined with injuries, and the play of the game came on a forced fumble from rookie defensive tackle Alfred Collins.

With the Rams driving inside the 49ers’ two-yard line and under 75 seconds to play, Collins dove from behind Rams tailback Kyren Williams and delivered a punch that would make a prize fighter blush.

Collins’ forced fumble – and ensuing recovery – stripped the Rams of the potential go-ahead score and gave the 49ers the ball with a chance to secure a win in regulation.

After three failed run plays, a punt, and a game-tying field goal from Rams kicker Joshua Karty, Thursday’s outcome came down to overtime.

That’s where Collins’ fellow rookie, Marques Sigle, delivered the game-sealing tackle and the defense’s second play of the game.

The 49ers drove eight plays and 37 yards on their overtime possession before Eddy Piñeiro banged a go-ahead field goal off the left upright and through the goalposts. Piñeiro’s fourth field goal of the night gave San Francisco a 26-23 overtime lead, but Kyle Shanahan’s team was hardly assured of a victory.

With Nick Bosa out for the season and defensive linemen Kalia Davis and Yetur Gross-Matos ruled out with injuries during the course of Thursday’s game, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford operated with a squeaky clean pocket for most of the second half.

Stafford’s 38-yard toss to Tutu Atwell set the Rams up inside the 49ers’ red zone, but the defense ultimately forced the Rams into a 4th down and 1 situation from the San Francisco 11-yard line.

In lieu of playing for the tie and sending Karty back onto the field, Rams coach Sean McVay went for the win against a young 49ers defense that struggled to generate a push at the line of scrimmage throughout the second half.

That’s why 49ers coordinator Robert Saleh sold out.

Williams, the same back who lost the ball on the Collins forced fumble, was met at the line by a host of 49ers defenders, but was finally pushed backward by Sigle, the fifth-round draft pick out of Kansas State.

The stop marked a stunning conclusion to a game the 49ers practically conceded earlier in the week when they ruled out Pearsall, Jennings, and starting quarterback Brock Purdy to go along with the other injuries to key players including Bosa, Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk.

How did they manage the overtime heroics? The Standard’s David Lombardi has early takeaways and will update this story after gathering more intel from the locker room at SoFi Stadium.

Back against the wall and a favored Rams team on the schedule: Shanahan is no stranger to such situations. His 49ers had overcome them before, namely in 2020 and 2021, so the formula for this one was simple.

Hog the ball.

That’s what the 49ers did especially well in Week 10 of the 2021 season, when they marched 18 plays to open the game with a touchdown and then suffocated L.A. with a ball-control game plan that kept Matthew Stafford and Co. on the sideline. Fittingly, the 49ers’ QB also wore No. 10 on that night. (It was Jimmy Garoppolo, who — in a trippy twist — was in the building as the Rams’ backup for this one).

This time, Mac Jones led the 49ers out of the gate with two methodical touchdown drives totaling 25 plays, 163 yards, and nearly a full quarter’s worth of possession. Jones took the profits easily available to him, converting on short throws that moved the chains. And then the 49ers delivered in high-leverage run situations, moving the chains on two critical fourth downs.

Stafford was relegated to the sideline, and the 49ers built a two-score lead. Formula followed — for a half.

Two critical errors overexposed the 49ers defense. In the first half, with San Francisco leading 14-0 and driving to potentially take a three-score lead, Kendrick Bourne dropped a simple third-down pass. That gave the Rams, who might’ve been on the verge of extinction, life.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Shanahan abandoned his straightforward ball-hogging ways on a third-and-one. He called a lateral run play to Christian McCaffrey, who was swallowed in the backfield for a 3-yard loss that prevented the 49ers from attempting a fourth-down conversion.

It wasn’t surprising to see the Rams, heavy favorites, earn a progressively stronger hold on both lines of scrimmage as the game went on.

But despite owning the trenches for much of the fourth quarter, Los Angeles couldn’t generate a push when it mattered most.

This was, by far, the most productive game of Bourne’s career. He racked up 142 yards on 10 catches. Bourne’s previous best came back in 2022 for the New England Patriots, when he caught six passes for 100 yards.

So, yes, this wasn’t perfect. Bourne’s first-half drop was very costly, and he later struggled with a pre-snap alignment. But he delivered big down the stretch on third down.