The San Francisco 49ers finally won an NFC West matchup, and it took overtime to do it as they beat the St. Louis Rams 19-16 in front of a Levi's Stadium crowd.
The victory, their fifth of the season, will likely hurt their draft status in April, but gave the home crowd a win to watch in what was likely Jim Tomsula's final game as the 49ers head coach.
Following the game, Tomsula said that he has not spoken to ownership about his future and does not have any meetings with them scheduled. "I'm not going to make this about Jim and Jim's job status today," Tomsula said. He wanted the players to focus on the win. "Today is all about those players," he added.
In the opening seconds of the second quarter, 49ers WR Anquan Boldin took a leisurely stroll into the end zone after boxing out CB Janoris Jenkins to make the catch for his fourth touchdown of the season on a 33-yard completion from QB Blaine Gabbert. It was his longest touchdown of the season and the 49ers took a 7-3 lead over the visiting Rams.
49ers Phil Dawson makes game-winning FG
Later during the quarter, 49ers RB DuJuan Harris scampered downfield on a 47-yard run to the St. Louis 9-yard line. Four plays later, San Francisco would hit a 26-yard field goal to increase their lead by seven.
In the same quarter, 49ers FS Eric Reid would lay a big hit on WR Brian Quick to break up a pass and force St. Louis to kick a field goal, bringing the Rams within four.
During the first play following the two-minute warning, Rams DE Eugene Sims intercepted a Gabbert pass off of a tip and returned it to the San Francisco 3-yard line. Two plays later, St. Louis would score on a 4-yard pass from QB Case Keenum to RB Tre Mason and a later field goal would send them into halftime with a 16-10 lead.
Two 49ers field goals in the second half, one in the third quarter and another in the fourth, would tie the game 16-16, sending it into overtime. A 48-yard field goal attempt by Rams K Greg Zuerlein to win the game would be deflected by 49ers CB Dontae Johnson.
A 33-yard pass from Gabbert to WR Quinton Patton to the 5-yard line would set up a 23-yard game winner by K Phil Dawson. The 49ers would improve to 5-11 on the season, their worst since 2007.
Gabbert would finish the game completing 28 of 44 passes for 354 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. RB DuJuan Harris would finish the game with 153 all-purpose yards. 86 of those would be on receptions from Gabbert. WR Anquan Boldin had 71 yards on five receptions with a touchdown and WR Torrey Smith added 61 yards on five catches.
Blaine Gabbert's 354 passing yards today were a career high.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) January 4, 2016
For the Rams, QB Case Keenum would finish the game 22 of 37 for 231 yards and no touchdowns. RB Tre Mason would have their lone touchdown of the game.
Injuries
No injuries to report.