The 49ers were staring at a 3-5 start at half-time of their NFC West clash with the Los Angeles Rams, trailing 14-10 with their defense struggling to contain Cooper Kupp and their offense having failed to execute in the red zone. By the end of the game, they were celebrating an emphatic and hugely important 31-14 victory over the defending Super Bowl champions.
San Francisco decimated the Rams in the second half at SoFi Stadium, completing a season sweep that moves the Niners to 3-0 in the NFC West and gives them a potentially crucial tiebreaker in tight fight for the division.
Such was the 49ers’ second-half dominance that the Rams were essentially waving the white flag with just under six minutes remaining by calling a run on third down before punting back to San Francisco.
So how exactly did the 49ers turn things around in such significant fashion? The obvious answer is the unbelievable performance by Christian McCaffrey, who followed up an encouraging debut against the Chiefs with a second act in which he racked up 149 yards and two touchdowns from scrimmage and threw for a 34-yard touchdown in an historic effort.
Though McCaffrey was clearly the catalyst, he wasn’t the sole reason why the Niners were able to take over. Here we analyze how the turnaround happened.
Red zone execution
Heading into the game, the 49ers had not been a good red zone team, and that looked set to continue in Week 8 after San Francisco came up short in the red zone on the Niners’ final drive of the first half after Jimmy Garoppolo had taken a sack on second down.
It was an entirely different story in the second as the Niners went three for three inside the Rams’ 20-yard line across the final two quarters.
McCaffrey got things started by uncovering for his remarkable touchdown catch on San Francisco’s second drive of the half and then plunged in from the one-yard line after his 24-yard rush set the 49ers up on the Rams’ one-yard line.
Garoppolo finished it off in style with a perfectly lofted ball to the back of the endzone to George Kittle on a sprint out after he had connected with Ross Dwelley on a 56-yard bomb down the left sideline.
With their backs against the wall, the 49ers — aided greatly by McCaffrey — finally delivered in the congested area, and the second-half renaissance by their defense ensured San Francisco’s long-awaited impressive execution in the red zone proved decisive.
Defense rediscovers its best
The 49er defense had endured some uncharacteristic struggles over the previous two weeks, and they seemed to be seeping into Week 8 during the first half, with San Francisco unable to pressure or stop a Ram offense that succeeded in moving the ball down the field through consistent use of the screen pass.
More frustratingly, the Rams converted on six successive third downs in the first half after their opening series ended in a three-and-out, the Niners’ inability to get off the field threatening to derail their hopes of getting back to 4-4.
San Francisco allowed the Rams to convert their first third down of the second half but then made a pivotal stop three plays later to hand the ball back to the offense. Fred Warner got home on a third-down blitz after McCaffrey’s receiving touchdown, and the Niners never looked back from there on both sides of the ball.
DeMeco Ryans’ group gave up just 40 of their 223 net yards allowed in the game during the second half, and their stiffened resolve allowed the 49ers to pull away and remind the NFC this is a team to be taken very seriously.
A pressure-free and composed Jimmy Garoppolo
The 49er offense was able to take advantage of their defense’s strong second-half effort in large part thanks to the composure of Garoppolo.
This was unquestionably Garoppolo’s best performance of the season, one in which he displayed tremendous composure in the pocket to go through his progressions and consistently find the open man.
He was helped in doing so by McCaffrey giving him an explosive checkdown option out of the backfield and an offensive line that had looked creaky in the first half holding up excellently against the Rams’ defensive front after the first series of the second half, which was ended by a sack.
McCaffrey’s sensational second game as a 49er clearly had a huge influence on Garoppolo’s time to throw, his remarkable efficiency running the ball helping curb the aggressiveness of a defense that had success with the blitz in the first half.
But credit must also go to Garoppolo for demonstrating outstanding accuracy. He finished the game, per rbsdm.com, with a Completion Percentage Over Expectation of plus 16.6.
When Garoppolo is in that kind of form, has the support of a potent running game and has time to throw, the 49er passing game is extremely difficult to stop. With McCaffrey looking like a season-saving acquisition, San Francisco will hope to deliver several more performances of this ilk down the stretch.
