7:44 PM
The 49ers were able to punch their ticket to the playoffs with a victory.
The Niners, led by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, scratched and clawed their way back from a 17-point deficit to win in overtime against the Rams on Sunday.
San Francisco's defense held on with the first career pick-six by a rookies, as the 49ers won in overtime.
The Niners will play the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The Rams are the fourth seed in the conference and the winner of the NFC West.
Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp had seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown in the game, but fell short of setting NFL records for receiving yards and reception in a season. Kupp needed 136 receiving yards to break Calvin Johnson's record of 1,962 receiving yards set in 2012 and 12 reception to break Michael Thomas' record of 149 reception yards set in 2019.
After falling behind by 17 in the first half, history suggested the 49ers were about to call it a season and head home for the winter.
The Niners had faced a 17-plus point deficit in the past, but on Sunday they came back to win. The Niners have faced such deficits over the past 20 seasons.
The Rams had never lost a game in which they had the lead at halftime under coach Sean McVay, who was 45 perfect in those scenarios since taking over. Los Angeles' streak was the second-longest in the history of the league, trailing only Green Bay's 49-game streak from 1926-33.
The 49ers' win was the sixth in a row against the Rams and tied for the fourth largest on the road in franchise history.
The Niners needed a lot of late-game magic. They were poised to take the lead in the third quarter when Garoppolo threw an pick-six to Ramsey.
Garoppolo, who had a thumb injury, led the Niners on an 88-yard touchdown drive in 1:01 to tie it.
Garoppolo picked up where he left off in overtime, quickly leading the Niners down the field with a pair of big third-down completions to Jennings to set up the game-winning field goal.
Garoppolo said it took everything after the game. We knew it would be a 60-minute game. We will remember this one for a while. This was a very special one.
Garoppolo said that his injured thumb was definitely tested. It's football, before adding with a laugh, "It hurts."
"It is what it is," he said. "We got the win and that's all that matters."
Garoppolo had a passer rating of 87.5 and finished the game with a touchdown and an interception.
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