By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

Just when it seemed the Rams had exhausted all possible methods of losing, they found yet another way on Sunday against the 49ers.

For a team that has struggled with turnovers, penalties and a variety of other important details of the game, the tables seemed to be turned this time around.

The Rams won the turnover battle. They were almost even in terms of penalties. They outgained San Francisco by 70 yards.

But they lost the game. On the strength of a furious fourth-quarter rally and at the expense of a St. Louis unit that has struggled to finish opponents, San Francisco surged to a stunning 17-16 win on Sunday.

The loss is the Rams’ ninth in a row and drops them to 2-13 on the season. The 49ers improved to 6-9. It was the second late-game loss in a row for the Rams.

“I don’t know if we are cursed,” running back Steven Jackson said. “But it hurts. It hurts when you feel like you outplayed your opponent for almost eight quarters going back to last week. I really feel like we outplayed both teams but for whatever reason, we just are not coming out with the win.”

And while last week’s blown lead loss as time expired came courtesy of a last second field goal, this one came in what was perhaps even more disappointing fashion.

With 1:31 to go in the game, San Francisco quarterback Shaun Hill lofted a pass deep down the left sideline. Hill had two receivers in the vicinity; the Rams had two defensive backs in the area.

All four players jumped in the air attempting to make a play on the ball as they converged in the shallow corner of the end zone. Rams cornerback Fakhir Brown was covering Morgan but fell off the coverage, allowing Morgan to stride to the ball.

It was Morgan that came down with the ball for a 48-yard touchdown.

“I’m just going to say he made the play and I didn’t. that’s it,” Brown said. “I can’t make any excuses. He just made a play on me. I feel really upset about it because he made the play on me.”

Joe Nedney’s extra point gave San Francisco the final margin.

“I mean it's just crazy,” safety Oshiomogho Atogwe, one of the players in the mix for the final ball, said. “I see it on video games, playing Madden. I see it there. It’s just kind a summation for how the season's been going. We need to make one more play here, one more play there and our season is a whole lot different.”

Morgan’s touchdown came on the heels of a 3-yard scoring strike to receiver Isaac Bruce, whose touchdown doubled as his 1,000th career grab.

Against Seattle last week, the Rams coughed up a 17-7 lead in the second half to fall 23-20. The Seahawks’ comeback came in two quarters. The 49ers waited until the last possible minute Sunday, though, forging a 14-point surge to closeout the game after falling behind 16-3.

Even after Morgan’s touchdown, though, the Rams found themselves with a chance to perhaps put together a drive to kick a game winning field goal of their own.
Taking over at their 26 with 1:16 to play, quarterback Marc Bulger hit receiver Donnie Avery for a gain of 11 yards on second down. After three plays netted 1 yard, Avery came up with a tremendous sideline tip toe catch for 17 yards and another first down on fourth-and-9.

Just as it seemed things were finally about to go the Rams’ way, it all fell apart.

Armed with two timeouts and the ball at San Francisco’s 45, the Rams needed about 10 to 15 yards for a solid field goal chance for strong legged kicker Josh Brown.

Offensive coordinator Al Saunders called for a delayed draw to Jackson, who lost 3 yards on the first down play.

The Rams burned a timeout after that one but still had another in pocket with the opportunity to use any part of the field they wanted.

Instead, Bulger threw for Torry Holt on the outside. San Francisco cornerback Tarell Brown was sitting on the route, though, and intercepted it to seal the Rams’ fate.

“They have been playing coverage,” Rams coach Jim Haslett said. “We were trying to get the ball to our play makers. We were trying to get it to Torry, Donnie and obviously Steven. But that was our main concern trying to get the guys who made plays all day the ball.”

For the second week in a row, the Rams did seem to make more plays than their opponent. St. Louis controlled the game for almost all of the first three quarters.

In that time, the Rams managed to come up with four takeaways including a pair of interceptions for cornerback Ron Bartell, one for Oshiomogho Atogwe and a forced fumble and recovery for Atogwe.

But the NFL is more than a three-quarter league.

“It you look at every game across the league, when it is close the team that wins makes more plays than the other team in the fourth quarter,” defensive tackle Clifton Ryan said. “This is a fourth quarter league and this is a fourth quarter game. The teams that make the most plays in the fourth quarter usually win the games.”

The Rams managed just six points off those takeaways, though, mustering only one touchdown on a 30-yard strike from Bulger to rookie Keenan Burton. It was Burton’s first career touchdown and gave the Rams a 10-3 lead early in the second quarter.

All told, the Rams outgained San Francisco 343-273, were plus three in turnovers and Jackson rushed for 108 yards on 32 carries.

Once again, though, the Rams just couldn’t find a way to put the finishing touches on what by most accounts was one of their better performances of the season.

Like so many times before, though, the Rams couldn’t find a way to score touchdowns instead of field goals and finish off what looked like a beaten opponent.

“I think for us as a team right now we have got to learn to win tight games in the fourth quarter,” defensive tackle La’Roi Glover said. “How do you learn it? I don’t know the answer to that but we need to learn how to close out a deal.”

With one game left in the season – a trip to playoff-bound Atlanta – that lesson will have to wait.