Niners’ blown lead ends magical playoff run and possibly the Jimmy Garoppolo era – San Francisco 49ers Blog

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The end came sooner and in more heartbreaking fashion than the San Francisco 49ers could have imagined.

In a blown lead reminiscent of their most recent playoff loss (Super Bowl LIV), the Niners coughed up a 10-point fourth-quarter advantage to the Los Angeles Rams on the way to a devastating 20-17 loss in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

It brought an abrupt finish to a magical run in which the sixth-seeded Niners came within a hair of qualifying for the Super Bowl for the second time in three years. It was the end of their season, the end of a six-game winning streak against their NFC West nemesis and, quite possibly, the end of the Jimmy Garoppolo era as San Francisco’s quarterback.

For those endings to happen, the Niners had to endure another late-game collapse. The same team that was 3-1 in the postseason with a fourth-quarter lead of 10-plus points since 2019 let another one slip away at the worst possible time. The rest of the NFL is 23-0 in those situations during that span, per ESPN Stats & Information data.

“We came up short today and that’s part of sports and part of life and we’ve got to deal with it,” said coach Kyle Shanahan, “so those guys are hurting now, but they’ll rebound and be stronger for it.”

Before Sunday, the Rams were 1-23 when trailing by double digits in the second half since Sean McVay took over as coach in 2017. It was fitting that the second such victory came in the NFC Championship Game, since the other was in the 2018 NFC title game against the New Orleans Saints.

Clinging to a 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter, a Niners defense that spent much of the day on the field appeared to run out of gas. The Rams moved quickly for an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matthew Stafford to wide receiver Cooper Kupp. After adding a field goal to tie it, the…