The favoured Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers in a tight and competitive NFC Championship Game. An interception by Jimmy Garoppolo ends all dreams of the 49ers shortly before the end of the game.

Los Angeles – The Los Angeles Rams followed the Cincinnati Bengals into the Super Bowl. The favoured Rams defeated the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in a thrilling and contested NFC Championship Game.

The crux of the game was an interception by 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo with 37 seconds left on the clock. The signal caller rushed for 232 yards and two touchdowns.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 337 yards and 2 touchdowns with one interception. Once again, Rams receiver Cooper Kupp played a very strong game with 142 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Los Angeles Rams will play the Super Bowl on 13 February in their own SoFi Stadium.

49erst at Rams: Defenses dominate at first

The game took a while to get going with both teams leering at each other and the defenses dominating. It was not until the middle of the second quarter that the first points appeared on the scoreboard. After a strong drive by the Rams, Stafford passed exactly into the end zone for 16 yards to his favourite target, Cooper Kupp.

The 49ers countered quickly though, Deebo Samuel sprinting into the end zone after a short pass from Garoppolo. With both kickers converting the extra points, the score was 7-7. Matt Gay tried to put the Rams back in front with a field goal a little later, but the kicker missed from 54 yards.

Robbie Gould did better on the other side, kicking from 38 yards to give the 49ers a 10-7 halftime lead. The third quarter was also dominated for a long time by the two aggressive defenses.

Garoppolo throws an interception shortly before the end

With two minutes left in the third quarter, 49ers tight end George Kittle picked off a 16-yard pass from Garoppolo. The extra point also flew through the uprights and the franchise from California took a 17:7 lead.

A short time later it was star receiver Kupp again who reduced the lead to 14:17 after an eleven-yard pass from Stafford. Kicker Gaye then levelled the game in the last quarter with a field goal from 40 yards.

Bitter: 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt could have caught a pass from Stafford in the last quarter, but dropped what should have been an easy interception and thus missed the chance to turn the game around.

With 106 seconds left, it was again Kicker Gay who put the score at 20:17 for the Rams. The 49ers still had one drive left, but Garoppolo made the decisive interception.