49ers-Rams recap: Blame QB C.J. Beathard’s turnovers for blowout loss

A week after going blow-for-blow with a future Hall-of-Fame quarterback, San Francisco 49ers’ backup QB C.J. Beathard handed Los Angeles Rams a blowout victory in Week 7. An overwhelmed Beathard committed three turnovers and took seven sacks in the Niners’ 39-10 loss to their NFC West rival.

Entering this week’s action, the Los Angeles Rams were considered perhaps the NFL’s top team, and owners of the NFL’s top offensive unit. Unfortunately, the San Francisco 49ers didn’t force their opponent to demonstrate their offensive prowess on Sunday, as merely showing up for the game was enough for the Rams to leave Santa Clara with their seventh victory of the season.

It didn’t take long for the 49ers to begin to beat themselves, as four of their first five drives of the game ended in a turnover or safety. Although they didn’t realize it at the time, their second series — a short drive that ended in a shorter punt — would end up being one of San Francisco’s best drives of the game:

The 49ers finished Sunday’s game with one 75-yard touchdown drive and a 42-yard drive that ended with a field goal by kicker Robbie Gould. Otherwise, this 37-yard drive was easily San Francisco’s top series of the afternoon.

Along with this first punt, the 49ers punted after four additional drives on Sunday. The total yardage San Francisco gained on those four drives was -1 yard:

And one of those punts was blocked out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

But the 49ers’ inability to move the ball in the direction of their opponent’s end zone wasn’t the worst part of their Week 7 loss to the Rams.

The 49ers — and particularly quarterback C.J. Beathard — simply can’t stop turning the ball over in 2018, and the trend continued on Sunday. Beathard threw another two interceptions and lost one fumble during the game; the quarterback also recovered another one of his fumbles, and the officiating crew determined Beathard gave himself up before he committed his third fumble of the day.

Running back Matt Breida, who was injured on his first play from scrimmage, returned two drives later and fumbled on the following play. Meanwhile, the 49ers failed to force any turnovers in the contest, although Rams quarterback Jared Goff gave them plenty of opportunities, including a pass thrown directly at safety Jaquiski Tartt and a deep lobbed throw that hit both safety Adrian Colbert and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon in the hands.

Los Angeles finished the game with 39 points, but they did little on offense. Head coach Sean McVay called an uninspiring game, and Goff and the Rams’ offense struggled on third downs, despite facing little to no pass rush from San Francisco.

In the end, we didn’t learn much about the Rams on Sunday. Goff’s 201 passing yards were his lowest total of the year, running back Todd Gurley rushed for just 63 yards, and the team’s two longest plays of the game were receptions of just 32 and 23 yards.

But we did learn that the Los Angeles Rams are an NFL football team. And that was more than C.J. Beathard and the San Francisco 49ers could handle.