The Los Angeles Rams hosted the San Francisco 49ers in the Niners’ annual “road” game which is actually another home game with the number of red jerseys at SoFi Stadium. Both teams were coming off wins, with the Rams beating the Seahawks on the road while the Niners put together one of the most dominant performances of Week 1 with their victory in Pittsburgh.
As such, San Francisco was a 7.5-point favorite in Los Angeles, and although the Rams remained close in what was a 17-17 game at halftime, the second half was almost composed entirely of Niners. San Francisco opened a 10-point lead late in the fourth quarter and they looked like they were going for not only a win but also a cover for the Niners bettors, but the Rams and Sean McVay had other ideas. After moving the ball into San Francisco territory, the Rams punted the ball with four seconds on the clock and took out the field goal unit for a putback field goal to lose by 7 – but cover the number.
That’s a really unhealthy way to lose if you had a ticket to the 49ers and there were a lot of people calling for an investigation into why they would have kicked there, but the answer is that McVay was simply aiming for Madden’s field goal – where, once at 10, you kick as soon as you’re in range to give yourself time to touchdown after an onside kick. The problem was that With four seconds left, there wasn’t even enough time to execute that plan and the result was just a quick kick in the teeth for those who scored the points – but the Rams fans who supported their team received a small consolation prize in the loss.