The 49ers are 3-0 in the NFC West after going on the road and beating the Rams 26-23 in overtime on a short week in Los Angeles.
A fourth-and-1 stop from their own 11-yard line sealed the win after the last time in the red zone, Alfred Collins prevented a go-ahead touchdown by Kyren Williams when he punched the ball out at the 1.
Mac Jones, starting in place of Brock Purdy and hobbled by a knee injury himself, was 33-of-49 for 342 yards and two touchdowns.
Kendrick Bourne, starting in place of the injured Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings, had a career-high 142 yards. Christian McCaffrey led the 49ers with 22 carries for 57 yards and was their second-leading receiver with eight catches for 82 yards.
The 49ers (4-1) now have 10 days to get healthy before they visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 12.
Here’s what Kyle Shanahan and the players had to say after the win:
Kyle Shanahan
On McCaffrey:
He’s one of the toughest, grittiest guys I’ve ever been around. … Christian’s been unbelievable. He’s been running into some really tough looks but he doesn’t shy away from anything.
On Eddy Piñeiro’s delayed return to the locker room postgame:
I believe it took him like 20 minutes to get in there. I don’t know if he was doing interviews or what. We would have been mad at him, but he was four-for-four, so it was ll good. Maybe he was talking — I don’t know how to not cuss — like he did two weeks ago.
On getting wins despite injuries:
You don’t sit here and make excuses with injuries, but we’ve had to have a lot of guys step up that we weren’t sure we were going to need coming into the year, especially guys coming from other teams.
Trent Williams
On the locker room:
It was a confidence builder for sure. The Rams — not only have they been hot this year, they’ve been hot since last year. …
On the run game:
We had almost 400 yards of offense. So, we didn’t abandon it. We stuck to it. Kept handing it off and made them respect it. It opens up everything in the back. We got Christian McCaffrey — they’re gonna sell out to stop him.
On Mac Jones:
I watched Mac over the years, just kind of as a spectator. So I’ve seen the swag he possessed. I’ve seen the way he answered interviews. He’s a very lighthearted guy, keeps the mood light. But, you know, he’s a competitor.
On Alfred Collins:
Since training camp, he’s been on an escalator, man. He’s constantly taking steps to improve. You can see it in his assertiveness and the way he plays. The difference from July to now, it’s night and day. And you know, it’s funny because guys usually don’t take that big of a jump until they’ve had an offseason to train and they’ve had a season to see everything. But his progression is kind of scary.
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Kendrick Bourne
On bouncing back:
Last week was very tough on me, just the adversity I went through and the standard I hold myself to and the things I want to do for my teammates, first and foremost for the fans, for the organization. I hold myself to a higher standard.
On bouncing back from his drop last week:
I look at those type of plays, I look at it as it falls on me. Third-and-5, I’m wide open to catch a 5-yard route. Mac trusting me, it goes right through my hands. So it’s just adversity. It’s just a game within a game. It’s a mental game on the sideline that every individual player is having.
On Mac Jones’ mentality:
I saw him in New England, it was a different world for him, so to see him now with the peace he has — he’s playing free and having fun. I think it’s a big part of the game for him.
On outside doubt amid the injuries:
Everybody has their opinion and they have the right to it. I think it’s just huge by Kyle and them, having (Demarcus Robinson) and older guys, (Marquez Valdes-Scantling), guys that have experience in the game. And the depth we have, it shows and it’s important for the NFL.
On his mentality:
I didn’t come here to be the guy. I’m not coming here to try to get 50 catches a game. None of that. I’m here to play a role, help the younger guys, be a vet. And so if Kyle wants me to play F or he wants me to go to running back, then that’s what the week is going to present.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, middle, runs against the Los Angeles Rams during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Christian McCaffrey
On the win:
I love the character of this team. It’s hard. You got guys who are changing positions on a short week and having to learn an offense and just showed up a couple weeks ago.
On Mac Jones:
I don’t have enough good things to say about Mac. He’s an absolute warrior. He’s a leader — he’s somebody that we all get behind for sure.It’s a testament to him and his attitude and the way he plays football. It’s a testament to Brock and the way he’s been helping him and getting him ready to go.
On winning despite run issues:
The win is the most important thing. We don’t care how we have it. Obviously, I think everybody and their mother wants the run game to get rolling a little bit more, myself included. But we just got to keep chipping away and keep working at it and get some good guys back.
Alfred Collins
On his forced fumble:
A couple plays before, they were doing a draw play, so I ran upfield and they ran right there. So I felt them doing that, try to fight back. It’s a must-have-it play, you know what I’m saying? If I didn’t do that, then it would have been different, maybe they score. I saw the ball, cocked it back and hit it.
On working as a pro:
Coming to work every day, being intentional, finding things to get better every day. Technique to conditioning to recognizing different plays and stuff. Continue to buy into what this whole organization is doing. This is a 10-out-of-10 organization and I’ve been just flourishing. It’s only up from here.
On the final stop:
It’s a mindset. We all always got our ears pinned back, you know what I’m saying. We fight for each other. That was a big play for everybody.
On the ball from the fumble:
I think the equipment guy has it. I was kind of tired, I ain’t going to lie. My legs were dead. I was just trying to get to the bench, sit down.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones passes against the Los Angeles Rams during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Mac Jones
On the bumps and bruises:
A lot of things happened, but feel good, just working through some stuff. I was able to play, so that’s all that matters. If I feel like I can protect myself, then I feel like it’s my job to be out there.
On staying down with the knee:
It was the first time the trainers came out in my career. So I don’t like to stay down but I was just dealing with something and once I flipped over, I realized what it was and felt a lot better.
On his message to Bourne:
Let’s move on and focus on the week. I was like, you gotta move on. And he did, and that’s what KB does. I feel like when you have the relationship we have — I knew that about him and he knows that about me. Sometimes we struggle to move on from bad plays, so he’s always got my back when it’s not going great and then I always have his back.
On if he feels like the starter:
I know they brought me here to play as a backup and that’s my job. and Brock’s the starter of this team and right now he’s dealing with something. For him to go out there last week and play when he probably wasn’t at full health, he cares about this team. I’m jsut trying to get some wins for him so it helps us down the line.
On the full-team performance:
The defense played great. Special teams came in clutch, had great field goals by Eddie. I like him a lot. He’s cool.
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On his talk with Kyle Shanahan about the betting line moving:
He was like ‘Dude, I can’t believe they moved us like underdogs again,’ or whatever. And I’m like, I don’t know what that means really, but, yeah, let’s go kill them! He was pissed about it. I was like ‘Yeah, I’m pissed too.’
Fred Warner
On Mac Jones:
He’s obviously proven that he can win us games in those first two starts that he had with us.
On the final stop:
You hope to finish it and not have to go to overtime. But yeah, it was insane. Obviously they didn’t want to have it end in a tie, so they thought they could, I guess, big boy us at the end there. And we had to see who wanted it more.
On the final stand:
You could just tell the way they had lined up, that they were going to run the ball. There are some times if they line up and they’re a little bit looser, you may have the chance to have some sort of play-action pass on that play. But you could tell when they came out that they were going to run.
On Collins’ big stop:
John Lynch is probably going to celebrate on the plane tonight. (Laughs). Alfred Collins, unbelievable play on the 1-yard line to punch the ball out and give our team a chance to keep going, it was unbelievable.
On motivating the team on a short week:
The intensity was there from the first snap. Kyle’s the best in the game at motivating his players through the film, through the tape. And of course, Saleh is amazing in his own right as well. So humongous win.
