“Holy —!”
Sean McVay began his postgame news conference like a slack-jawed sailor, but he spoke the truth.
Holy rebound. Holy resilience. Holy Rams.
They began this stomach knot of a Sunday afternoon flat on their backs, trailing the San Francisco 49ers by two touchdowns in the first 15 minutes — winless and helpless and hopeless.
SoFi Stadium was blanketed in red, Niners fans owning the building, the defending NFC champs owning the moment, the 0-2 locals riddled with injuries and on the statistical brink of extinction.
“It would have been easy for guys to say, ‘It’s not looking good,’’’ said Troy Reeder.
Except, holy comeback, these are the Rams.
This is the organization with the strongest culture in Los Angeles sports. This is a group so connected, so single-minded, so sturdy, they never feel that greatness is beyond their reach.
They reached a Super Bowl with Jared Goff. They won a Super Bowl with no running backs. They most recently turned a 3-6 season into a playoff berth.
They’re the Rams, McVay’s Rams, and they believe they can do anything, and so even during their darkest moments Sunday, Reeder sensed only light.
“I was walking up and down the sideline and I just felt like everybody was confident that at some point, we would get a momentum swing,” he said.
It was a swing that resulted in the football version of a walk-off homer. It was a swing that saved a season.
On the verge of falling to 0-3 and having just a 2% chance of eventually making the playoffs, the Rams outfought a tough Niners defense, outshined a nifty Niners quarterback, and outplayed the Niners with a late 13-0 run to steal a 27-24 victory with two perfect endings.
Xavier Smith celebrates after his 38-yard punt return in the final minute to give the Rams excellent field position on their final possession.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
First, Joshua Karty kicked a 37-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give the Rams their only lead.
Second, during those final two seconds, the Rams’ video board showed shots of all those red-clad fans scurrying to the exits. One man was screaming. Another group of fans scowling. They were no longer erupting in the sort of Niners cheering that had permeated the entire afternoon.
It was a beautiful thing.
It was the appropriate closure for one of the most important regular-season victories of the McVay era.
“They kept competing,” said McVay. “They kept fighting.”
It was won with six receivers catching passes in place of injured Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. It was won with a makeshift offensive line blowing open enough holes for Kyren Williams to run for 89 yards and two touchdowns. He added a third score through the air.
And in the end, fittingly, it was won with the tying touchdown set up by a 50-yard pass to the much-maligned Tutu Atwell, and the winning kick set up by a 38-yard punt return from a guy just called up from the practice squad named Xavier Smith.
“It took everybody,” said quarterback Matthew Stafford.
This being a Hollywood team built on stars, folks forget that McVay’s culture is fueled by everybody.
“I think people always mistook some of the flash for the glue, the connective nature of the locker room, the way Sean is,” said team president Kevin Demoff while standing in a jubilant locker room. “This is, to me, one of the best organizational wins we’ve had in a really long time.”
It was one of the best wins because, since 1990, only four of the 162 teams that started 0-3 made the playoffs, a startling 2.5%. The Rams lose, they’re cooked.
It was also one of the best wins because McVay had been 1-9 against Niners coach and rival Kyle Shanahan.
Finally, it was a win that came one week after one the most disappointing losses of the McVay era, a 41-10 embarrassment by the Arizona Cardinals.
Is it any wonder that, when the Rams quickly fell behind 14-0 Sunday to a Niners team that was missing key skill players Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, many folks had them written off?
Rams wide receiver Tutu Atwell celebrates after making a 50-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Well, not everybody.
“A group that never wavered, just kept plugging away,” said Stafford.
After the Rams scored on Williams’ end zone somersault late in the second quarter, Byron Young forced a Brock Purdy fumble to end the half and set the tone for a late push.
The Niners led by 10 early in the fourth quarter, but then Stafford took over, leading two long drives and a quick strike to set up the winning field goal after the defense held the Niners to 15 yards on their final drive.
“No doubt down in the fourth quarter with the ball in my hand, I’ve got a little extra heartbeat going,” said Stafford. “I want to be in those moments. I feel like the guys on our team know that, and hopefully they feed off that.”
The Rams won despite being outgained by more than 100 yards. The Rams won despite Purdy scrambling forever in a backfield they rarely penetrated. The Rams won despite being a touchdown underdog in a game that, after last week’s desert debacle, most surely thought wouldn’t be that close.
“They kept competing, they kept fighting,” said McVay. “I see better than I hear, I saw a team respond after a really humbling week last week.”
What everyone saw Sunday was a team resurrected.
What everyone heard were the echoes of a message that could last the rest of the season.
Holy hope.
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