Frisco Skid

The San Francisco 49ers were defeated by the St. Louis Rams 13-10, dropping to 4-4 on the season. The 49ers played some horrific football, and yet still had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds. Colin Kaepernick went for the sneak on the 1-yard line, but fumbled the ball as he was approaching the goal line. The refs ruled he did not have his elbow down, and the 49ers lost.

There were so many issues, and people will first look to the referees. While the refs were atrocious, the 49ers completely crapped the bed in this game. The biggest issue on Sunday was the incredibly shoddy play of the offensive line. Colin Kaepernick was sacked eight times as the Rams had no problems finding their way into the backfield. Kaepernick did have some time on occasion, but it seemed like the line was collapsing all day long. I’m sure blame can be split amongst plenty of people, but the line just did not cut it.

The defense put together a strong performance, doing pretty much what they needed to with the Rams offense, only to be hung out to dry by the offense. Chris Borland had a monster day, with ESPN’s box score crediting him 18 total tackles. Antoine Bethea had an early interception, and was a key part of the 49ers defense all day long. The Rams got some big plays from Tre Mason, and the pass rush struggled with consistency once again, but the 49ers defense did what it needed to do to put the offense in position to win. And yet it didn’t matter as the offense came up short.

The 49ers now get to head on the road for a pair of tough contests. They travel to face theNew Orleans Saints in Week 10, and then travel to face the New York Giants in Week 11. In light of Sunday’s performance, they’ve got their work cut out for them.

Kaepernick started the last drive with 3:11 remaining from the 49ers 12. He completed long passes to Stevie Johnson and Anquan Boldin. Trumaine Johnson helped San Francisco get closer with back-to-back pass interference and holding penalties as he defended Michael Crabtree.

On third-and-goal from the 1, Kaepernick bobbled the snap, controlled it and dove between his blockers as fullback Bruce Miller tried to shove him into the end zone. Kaepernick fumbled as he went down in the mass of bodies, apparently short of the goal line.

“On the last play it went into a pile, and there was nothing we could see that could change the ruling on the field,” referee Jerome Boger said.

The Rams, 9 1/2-point underdogs to start the week, never let Kaepernick get comfortable. The quarterback spent more time on his backside and running from St. Louis defenders than he did directing the offense.

Playing for the second time in 21 days, the teams both were coming off embarrassing routs — the Rams last week 34-7 in Kansas City and the 49ers 42-17 at Denver on Oct. 19 — and this wasn’t pretty, either.

The Niners did little to impress members of the World Series champion San Francisco Giants in the stands wearing 49ers gear. Former coach George Seifert was in attendance as well for his induction into the franchise Hall of Fame.

“We have to play good football in order to win in this league, there’s no question about it,” 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Today was not good enough to win.”

Kenny Britt caught a 21-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 10 just 1:04 before halftime. Britt was wide open on a crossing route and easily ran in down the left sideline. That came three plays after Robert Quinn sacked Kaepernick and forced his first fumble of the day.

Then, the crazy final play of the first half was upheld on replay review.

When Phil Dawson’s 55-yard field goal try came up well short, Tavon Austin caught the ball near the back of the end zone and brought it out a few yards before backtracking to try to get around the right edge.

Derek Carrier tackled Austin in the end zone as the first-half clock expired.

As the two teams headed for their respective locker rooms, the head coaches stayed put for the ruling, which was that forward progress was stopped in the field of play and the play stood

without a safety.

Rams coach Jeff Fisher considered the endings to either half among the strangest he has seen.

“We even had some bizarre stuff at the end of the first half, too, and that was a little unusual,” he said.

Kaepernick threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Boldin, giving him TD passes in 15 straight games — tied for the second-longest streak in franchise history with Jeff Garcia. Hall of Famer Steve Young had 17 in a row.

When the NFC West rivals first played Oct. 13, Kaepernick threw for 343 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions or sacks. He finished Sunday with 237 yards on 22-of-33 passing.

Rams quarterback Austin Davis went 13 for 24 for 105 yards and was quick to credit the defense for banged-up St. Louis, limited to a walk-through Wednesday because of injuries.

San Francisco struggled to get pressure on Davis, while missing star linebacker Patrick Willis for the second straight game with an injured left big toe.

“They deserve it,” Davis said of the D. “They won us the ballgame today.”