By Jourdan Rodrigue, Matt Barrows and Amos Morale III

For the first time this NFL season, a game ended without touchdowns.

Los Angeles Rams kicker Joshua Karty made the difference with three fourth-quarter field goals as Los Angeles cruised to a 12-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers on a rainy Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium.

Karty also scored a field goal in the first half as the Rams got a strong performance from their defense and running back Kyren Williams to earn their seventh win in the last nine games.

Los Angeles held the 49ers to just 191 yards of offense as both teams were slowed by heavy rain in the first half. But even when the weather calmed down in the second half, Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense couldn’t get going.

The loss drops San Francisco to 6-8, the 49ers’ fourth loss in the last five games.

The Anemic Rams’ offense was just enough

Five days after the Rams scored 44 points against the top-ranked Buffalo Bills, Matthew Stafford and the Santa Clara offense were limp. Midway through the third quarter, the Rams’ longest offensive play of the day was a 12-yard screen, and they opened the game with five consecutive punts.

Even as the Rams brought their screen game into the third quarter, their red zone and goal-to-go issues resurfaced. Two holds and a baffling call by the Stafford keeper (after which he came off the field wincing) on ​​a first-and-10 from the San Francisco 11-yard line prevented a promising field goal drive. A 51-yard bomb from Stafford to a wide-open Puka Nacua in the fourth quarter at the 49ers’ 16-yard line (who nearly doubled his passing yards to that point) also resulted in a field goal.

Karty’s homecoming to the Santa Clara/Palo Alto area (he was a star kicker at Stanford) was impressive, especially given the elements. Karty scored the Rams’ first point of the game in the first half, a 48-yard field goal in the rain. He added field goals of 23, 27 and 29 yards in the second half.

As anemic as the Rams’ offense was on Thursday night, Stafford didn’t throw an interception (he was picked on nearly four times). This marks the first time in his career that he has not thrown an interception in five consecutive games. — Jourdan Rodrigue, Rams beat writer

The undermanned Rams defense came through

The Rams were shorthanded at cornerback and entered the game with the third-worst record in the NFL in EPA/passing on deep throws, but veterans Darious Williams and Ahkello Witherspoon combined to make a few key plays late in the fourth quarter.

Witherspoon, filling in for the injured Cobie Durant, parried a deep pass intended for Ricky Pearsall. Williams intercepted Purdy with 5:14 to play, the Rams leading 9-6, on a deep end zone shot intended for Jauan Jennings. — Jourdan Rodrigue, Rams beat writer

Deebo Samuel has big problems

The 49ers tried to get Deebo Samuel, who had had a series of quiet performances, involved early in the game. It didn’t work on a night where offensive yards and points were difficult to find.

The 49ers’ so-called wideback, who led the team to the playoffs in 2021, was targeted seven times in the passing game but came away with just three catches for 16 yards. His rushing performance was no better – two runs for 3 yards, which was below the modest 2.9 yards per carry average he came into the game with.

Far from sparking the offense, Samuel was often a hindrance. In the first quarter, he crashed into Isaac Guerendo, knocking the tailback to the ground. In the second quarter, Samuel’s false start penalty set the 49ers back 5 yards. In the third? He dropped a third-down pass that easily would have resulted in a first down and possibly been a touchdown. — Matt Barrows, 49ers beat writer

49ers excited by Greenlaw’s return

The 49ers got a big boost in the first half from two recently returning defensemen, Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga. The problem is that both took a pitch count on Thursday and weren’t always on the field in the second half.

The 49ers were hoping for a big emotional boost from Greenlaw’s first appearance of the season – and they got it. He was the last player to be introduced at the pre-game ceremony, eliciting huge cheers from the crowd and playing like a cannon. Greenlaw finished the first half with eight tackles. But he was on the sideline in the second half and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles replaced the weak linebacker.

Hufanga, who returned to the starting lineup Sunday against the Chicago Bears, should actually be counted. After Ji’Ayir Brown suffered a groin injury in the third quarter, Hufanga played the remainder of the game at one safety spot while Tashaun Gipson Sr. manned the other. — wheelbarrow

Required reading

(Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)