SAN FRANCISCO -- The Rams' defense bent, bent, and bent some more. And finally, with one flick of the wrist of Alex Smith -- on a deep throw to Michael Crabtree -- it broke. Smith's 52-yard touchdown pass to Crabtree, who got behind cornerback Justin King on the play, gave San Francisco a 16-0 lead 5 minutes into the third quarter.
Given the sorry state of the St. Louis offense, it might as well have been 160-0 to nothing. A.J. Feeley, subbing for the injured Sam Bradford, had trouble completing passes. And more often than not, running back Steven Jackson ran into the stone wall that is San Francisco's No. 1-ranked run defense. The result wasn't pretty; then again, not much the Rams do these days qualifies as pretty.
After Sunday's 26-0 loss, the Rams are now 2-10 on the season and 10-34 in Steve Spagnuolo's third season as head coach. As for the 49ers, they're NFC West champs for the first time since 2002. At 10-2, San Francisco continues to have the second-best record in football.
You can't ask for a defense to play any better than the Rams did in the first half. For starters, they were on the field almost the entire half because the St. Louis offense had trouble staying out of its own way. And twice, the Rams were able to hold San Francisco to field goals after the 49ers had first-and-goal situations _ once from the 10, and once from the 6.
So it was "only" 9-0 San Francisco at the half on the strength of three short-range field goals by David Akers. Those kicks gave Akers 31 successful field goals for the season, breaking the single-season mark of 30 set by Jeff Wilkins in 1996. (Yes, the same Jeff Wilkins, aka "Money," who later became a place-kicking mainstay for the Rams.
Entering the game, San Francisco had thrown only 301 passes this season, the lowest total in the league save for the 300 thrown by the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow. But the ‘Niners came out throwing Sunday, with nine of their first 14 plays called pass plays. (One resulted in a scramble by Smith at quarterback.)
Smith was hardly dead-on accurate, but he completed throws of 15, 10, and 13 yards on San Francisco's second possession, enough to put the 49ers in range for Akers' first field goal and a 3-0 lead with 4:54 to go in the first quarter.
The score stayed that way until early in the second quarter, when Feeley threw an air ball on third-and-8 from the St. Louis 14. San Francisco defensive end Ray McDonald was credited with a fumble on the play, but it was unclear if he even touched Feeley's arm. Or if Feeley's arm brushed guard Jason Brown who was blocking McDonald.
No matter, the ball fell to the turf and former Mizzou star Aldon Smith recovered for San Francisco at the Rams' 6. But three runs by Frank Gore resulted in a fourth-and-goal from the 1½, and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh sent out Akers again for another field goal and a 6-0 San Fran lead with 8:39 left in the first half.
San Francisco, which controlled the ball for 21minutes 36 seconds in the first half _ to the Rams' 8:24 _ had one more scoring opportunity after driving from its 35 to a first down at the St. Louis 10. But it was all Chris Long from there.
On first-down, Long dropped Alex Smith for his 11th sack of the season. On second down, Long stopped Gore for a 2-yard gain. And on third-and-goal, Long's hit on Smith force an errant pass intended for Central Missouri State product Delanie Walker to fall incomplete. So Akers kicked his third field goal for the 9-0 lead with 1:41 left before halftime.
Long then recorded his 12th sack of the season to end the half. He has at least one sack in six consecutive games.
But that was just about it for Rams highlights. Feeley hit Brandon Lloyd for a 34-yard gain on the third play of the second half. Lloyd made an impressive sideline catch on the play despite the efforts of 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown, who was called for pass interference.
However, on the next play, Feeley's underthrown deep pass intended for Austin Pettis was intercepted by 49ers safety Dashon Goldson. Feeley was hit by a 49ers pass-rusher on the play, affecting the throw. That set the stage for the Smith-to-Crabtree bomb, and another sorry afternoon for the Rams.
Bradford barely practiced during the week after aggravating his high ankle sprain Nov. 27 against Arizona, and was limping when he got on the team bus Sunday morning for the ride to Candlestick Park.