The 49ers may have technically been on the road Sunday in their regular season finale against the Los Angeles Rams, but enough of their fans showed up to make SoFi Stadium in Inglewood feel like home for the visiting team.
49ers fans made their presence felt as they watched their team rally from a 17-point first half deficit to snag a memorable 27-24 overtime win over the Rams, sealing a playoff berth in the process. Multiple 49ers players commented afterwards that the fan presence made the game feel like a home contest.
"It definitely did," wide receiver Deebo Samuel said. "I feel like the Rams pumped noise because there wasn't that many Rams fans in here."
Linebacker Fred Warner said that one of the officials told him how impressive it was to see so many 49ers fans in the stands.
"We were in a TV time out," Warner said, "and the ref's kind of standing there and he's like, 'Man, who set this up for you guys to have this many fans out here?' And I was like, 'I don't know. This feels like a home game.' And they came up big at the end there. Shoot, you felt it. It felt like a home game."
Wide receiver Jauan Jennings said seeing the fans in the stands gave him some extra juice coming into the game.
"It definitely did," Jennings said. "Turned me up for sure, and I'm always turnt. It just added fuel to the fire. I couldn't wait for them to kick the ball off and get the game started."
Check out this video from Rams reporter Lindsey Thiry that showed the presence of the 49ers Faithful on Sunday:
The 49ers had a strong contingent in SoFi Stadium today. This was moments after they won. pic.twitter.com/9oq7402xbh
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) January 10, 2022
The fans didn't have much to cheer about in the early going as the 49ers got off to a miserable start by digging themselves in a 17-0 hole. But they were treated to a classic from there, as the 49ers muscled their way back into the game to tie it at 17 in the second half, then sent the game to overtime on a last-minute touchdown drive before winning it with a field goal in the extra session.
"It was crazy," defensive lineman Arik Armstead said. "I remember two years ago when we played in the Coliseum how the Niner fans took over the stadium, and today was crazy. It was a lot of chaos out there. It was tough to even communicate on defense for us make changes, so they definitely represented today and it was great to see all that red in the crowd."