49ers 34, Rams 27
Michael Crabtree posted the first multiple-touchdown game of his career and the San Francisco 49ers took care of the St. Louis Rams to clinch the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs with a 34-27 road win Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.
The 49ers (13-3) earned a first-round bye and will host a second-round game.
San Francisco appeared to be headed for an easy victory, leading 34-13 with five minutes left, before two quick touchdowns sandwiched around a successful onside kick narrowed the gap.
The Rams (2-14) sputtered on offense for most of the game with journeyman Kellen Clemens at quarterback, but Clemens led back-to-back scoring drives to get St. Louis back in it.
Clemens had the Rams in 49ers territory on a potential tying drive before suffering an apparent ankle injury and giving way to Tom Brandstater, who threw consecutive incompletions to turn the ball over on downs.
San Francisco got another solid outing from quarterback Alex Smith, who passed for 219 yards to go over 3,000 for the first time in his career and won for the 14th time in 17 starts.
But Smith threw only one of the two touchdown passes to Crabtree, who also hauled in a 14-yard scoring toss from kicker David Akers on a fake field goal.
Akers made two field goals to add to his NFL record (44) and set an NFL record for points in a season, not including touchdowns.