ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Marc Bulger was able to overcome two first-half fumbles. But the San Francisco 49ers were unable to overcome critical mistakes by Cedrick Wilson and Jeff Ulbrich.
A 15-yard facemask penalty on Ulbrich helped set up a 28-yard field goal by Jeff Wilkins 1:56 into overtime as the St. Louis Rams posted a 27-24 victory over the Niners in a battle of NFC West rivals.
Bulger completed 15-of-17 passes for 155 yards after the first half, including a 19-yard touchdown to Dane Looker which gave the Rams a 21-17 lead 1:45 into the fourth quarter.
A 29-yard field goal by Wilkins, a former Niner, increased the advantage to 24-17 with 3:20 left.
But that was enough time for San Francisco to go 85 yards in 11 plays for the tying touchdown, a 13-yard pass from Jeff Garcia to Terrell Owens on a 4th-and-8 play with 19 seconds remaining. Garrison Hearst broke off runs of 36 and 13 yards on the drive.
San Francisco coach Dennis Erickson then gambled by going for a squib kick, which was muffed by Rich Coady and recovered by Niners rookie Arnaz Battle at midfield with 13 seconds remaining.
With a timeout left, the Niners had a chance to get into field goal range. After a false start penalty, Garcia hit Wilson over the middle for 20 yards, but instead of quickly going down and calling for a timeout, Wilson ran for another nine yards to the St. Louis 26 as time expired.
"It's easy to say go down now because Cedrick caught the ball and tried to make the play," Erickson said. "Right now, you would like to say he should have gone down, but he didn't. He was trying to make a play. There are a lot of ifs and buts and that is probably one of them."
"I didn't know if we had enough time on the clock. I was just trying to make a play," Wilson said. "If I go down, the first tackle, we might have had enough time. The game is tied, we go into overtime, so I was trying to score."
The Rams (1-1) then won the coin toss and Arlen Harris returned the ensuing kickoff 42 yards to the St. Louis 48.
"How about Arlen Harris," Martz said. "He dropped a punt, I leave him in there because I believe in him. He comes back and he gets to return a kick that set up the winning score."
On the first play from scrimmage, Marshall Faulk was stopped for a one-yard gain around right end. But Ulbrich grabbed Faulk's facemask for a 15-yard penalty.
Bulger then hit Torry Holt with a four-yard pass to the San Francisco 32 before Faulk turned a screen pass into a 22-yard gain to the San Francisco 10.
Rams coach Mike Martz immediately called for Wilkins to kick the winning field goal on the next play.
The win was the eighth for the Rams in their last nine games against San Francisco.
Playing with Kurt Warner recovering from a mild concussion, Bulger completed 25-of-36 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns.
"The coin toss, Arlen Harris' return, and it was phenomenal getting the penalty on Marshall and we were already in field goal range," Bulger said. "It's huge obviously. Division game and the 49ers are our biggest rivals."
The Niners held Faulk to 57 yards on 18 carries, but were burned by the multi-purpose back on the 22-yard screen pass in overtime.
"Sometimes your number is called and sometimes it's not," Faulk said. "I just have to make sure that when my number is called, I respond and something happens."
Garcia and Owens had to leave the game in the first quarter after taking hard hits, but returned in the second quarter and collaborated on the game-tying touchdown.
Garcia finished 19-of-35 for 222 yards and two touchdowns with an interception, but slipped to 1-7 in his career against the Rams, including 0-5 here. Owens had five catches for 42 yards.
"In this situation, they're kind of lucky," Owens said of the Rams. "I hope they don't expect to come back to Candlestick and win. Like I said, we just have got to build on what we have. This is nothing. Sure we lost, but it was a good game."
Garcia hit Tai Streets with a 16-yard touchdown pass 3:16 into the game - one play after Dwaine Carpenter recovered a muffed punt by Harris.
Bulger then went 5-for-5 for 57 yards on St. Louis' second possession, capping it with an 11-yard TD to Torry Holt with 6:16 left in the quarter.
But Bulger fumbled after being sacked by Ulbrich, who recovered the ball at the St. Louis 31 with 8:27 left in the half. However, Jeff Chandler, who kicked a 35-yard field goal earlier in the second quarter, missed a 43-yard field goal attempt.
Bulger fumbled again after being sacked by linebacker Julian Peterson, who recovered at the San Francisco 25 with 1:47 remaining.
"We had some opportunities in the first half that we let slip," Martz said. "We didn't execute well so it was very hard to play well in the first half. They could have easily had 24 on us in the first half."
On St. Louis' first possession of the second half, Faulk broke off a 26-yard run to start a 12-play, 93-yard drive and capped it with a two-yard touchdown with 6:39 left in the third quarter, giving the Rams a 14-10 lead.
San Francisco responded with an 11-play, 75-yard drive which resulted in a 19-yard touchdown run by Kevan Barlow with 1:15 remaining in the quarter.
