National Football League

Wow: 49ers lose to Rams in most painful way possible (VIDEO)

Published Nov. 2, 2014 7:32 p.m. ET

Sid Saraf

What in the world did we see?

The San Francisco 49ers seemed to be in great shape with time running out against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. Sure, they were down by three points, but they had a first-and-goal from the Rams' 1-yard line. There was less than a minute remaining, but there was plenty of time to take a shot into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.

They were denied on first down. Then again on second. That brought up third down and the 49ers called a QB sneak up the middle by Colin Kaepernick. That's when disaster struck:

It seemed like Kaepernick reached the end zone at first, right? Wrong. Somehow the ball popped loose and was picked up by Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis. The play was ruled a fumble. Here's another angle:

Hard to tell what happened there. But since the play was initially ruled a fumble, there wasn't enough video evidence to overturn the call. The Rams took over at the 20-yard line and took a knee to end it.