With less than one minute to play in the half and the Rams leading the 49ers 21-17, Sean McVay was trying to increase the margin before the break. The Rams were moving the ball on the drive and had reached the 48-yard line, but Jared Goff made a costly error that he wishes he could have back.
Finding no receivers open, he checked down to his running back Malcolm Brown. Only, Fred Warner was lurking, read the play perfectly and picked it off, returning it 46 yards for a touchdown.
The Rams’ lead had evaporated in the blink of an eye, with San Francisco flipping the momentum. After the game, Goff admitted blame for the terrible decision and throw.
“That’s a big mistake I can’t make there,” he said. “It’s a bad one – something that’ll eat at me for a while. End of the half, it just was not a good – just got to be more careful with the ball. Just got to be more careful and take care of it in that situation. Something I’ll learn from, something I’ll get better from.”
Goff has one more opportunity to end the season on a high note, though the Rams don’t have anything to play for in Week 17 against the Cardinals. McVay wants to finish the year with a winning record, even if they can’t make the postseason.
Goff would like to do the same, but he’s got plenty of work to do this offseason that’s far more important than winning a meaningless game in Week 17.
“It’s extremely disappointing,” Goff said of the season. “You never envision something like this when you start the year. It’s not even close to the standard we want to hold. It’s sickening.”
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