Madden 16 Simulation Saturday: 49ers vs. Rams, Week 17

Welcome to the final simulation of the season, well for the 49ers anyways. While we may simulate the Super Bowl along with everyone else, this will conclude 2015's simulations.

The Niners roll into this game with a Madden rating of 79, the Rams have a rating of 78. As we all know, Madden doesn't like it when the lower ranked team wins. That's a bad sign for those of you wanting draft capitol right there, but let's see how all this turns out in our final simulation of the season.

1st Quarter:

The 49ers received and quickly went to a 3 and out. The Rams took the punt on the 30 yard line and Case Keenum nailed Kenny Britt for a 33 yard pass to wake everyone up. The rest of the drive continue with largely rushing plays by Tre Mason and Tavon Austin. After an encroachment penalty to move the Rams up to the 1 yard line, Tre Mason punched the ball in to get first points of the day.

Score: 7-0, Rams

The 49ers went to another 3 and out, thanks to a Blaine Gabbert sack on 3rd and 1. The Rams offense went to work on the 28 yard line and Case Keenum nailed Brian Quick for 16 yards and Jarred Cook for 13 yards to take the Rams across midfield yet again. Despite taking a 8 yard sack on 2nd and 10, Tavon Austin broke out a 16 yard run to get another 1st down for the Rams. The drive was finished with a 10 yard pass to Brian quick for a touchdown.

Score 14-0, Rams

The 49ers received the kickoff on the final seconds of the 1st quarter.

2nd Quarter:

The 49ers went to a pass happy series for three plays before getting another 3 and out and sending the ball back to the Rams. The highlight of this series? A dropped pass from Quinton Patton that would have made it 4th and 1.

A 24 yard pass to Kenny Britt put the Rams back in 49er territory after a few 4 yard rushes from Tre Mason. The very next play, Brian Quick caught a pass for 20 yards to put the Rams on the 15. The Keenum/Quick connection finished things off with a 8 yard TD pass, and we're not even out of the 1st half.

Score 21-0, Rams

The 49ers got the ball back and got their first 1st down of the day thanks to three Kendall Gaskins runs. The team continued feeding Gaskins the ball and didn't even attempt a pass, but it seemed to be working at 4 yards a clip and a second 1st down. Once hitting the San Francisco 45 yard line, Blaine Gabbert finally nailed Quinton Patton for 25 yards and the 49ers went back to feeding Kendall Gaskins the ball. After a brutal James Laurinaitis sack for a loss of seven yards, Gabbert hit Quinton Patton again on 3rd and 14....for 13 yards. In true 2015 49er fashion, rather than going for it on 4th and 1 on the St. Louis 10, the 49ers kicked a field goal. Which was good.

Score 21-3, Rams

The Rams began a hopeful possession with Tavon Austin bringing the ball out to the St. Louis 38, however a pair of sacks to Case Keenum blew up that possibility, and gave the 49ers their first stop of the day. The ensuing possession did nothing, however and only led to a 3 and out for the 49ers. The possession for the Rams didn't last long, because on 1st and 10, Marcus Cromartie intercepted Keenum on the St. Louis 40 yard line, giving the 49ers 19 seconds, 1 time out, and a chance to do something. Despite a 24 yard pass to Anquan Boldin, the clock winded down and the 49ers made their second field goal of the day.

Score 21-6, Rams

3rd Quarter:

The Rams received and had an awful drive, going 3 and out with sacks and penalties as part of the package. The punt to Bruce Ellington was caught at the 40 and the 10 yard return gave the 49ers great field position. From there, Kendall Gaskins was fed once more and Gabbert's favorite pass catcher, Vance McDonald helped take the 49ers to the St. Louis 17 yard line. A pass to Quinton Patton helped put the 49ers right back into this game.

Score 21-13, Rams

The Rams received and started their running game with a few short passes to try and strengthen their lead, however a interception on 2nd and seven by Kenneth Acker on the St. Louis 36 yard line put the 49ers right back into the swing of things.

The 49ers deployed DuJuan Harris for the entirety of this drive. The only variation from this? The 15 yard facemask penalty against the Rams. And Harris did his job, chinking away until getting to the 3 yard line and punching it in. Harris was happy to punch it in once more for the two points and tie this game up.  The 49ers are back in this thing!

Score 21-21, TIE

The Rams received and went back to try and get the lead, however Case Keenum took a nasty sack to close out the quarter and leave it at 2nd and 17.

4th Quarter:

Case Keenum got his yardage back with an 18 yard pass to Brian Quick to start the 4th quarter. The running game wasn't doing many favors for the Rams, leading to Keenum throwing darts to Jarred Cook and Brian Quick to move down the field. The drive stalled at the San Francisco 28, however. But it wasn't anything for Greg Zuerlein to make. The Rams are back on top.

Score 24-21, Rams

The 49ers offensive line was nothing more than thin paper for Blaine Gabbert, forcing him to take off out of the pocket for two scrambles. The blown up running play to Jarryd Hayne didn't help and the 49ers had to punt. The Rams couldn't do much of anything either and sent the ball back to the 49ers in three plays.

This time, Gabbert found receivers. He started the drive nailing Vance McDonald for six yards, followed by Torrey Smith for 10. Just to be fair, he chucked one to Quinton Patton for 16 yards before going back to Torrey Smith for another nice gain. There were no running plays as the 49ers continued throwing 10+ yard passes to hit the St. Louis 2 yard line. A rush by Gabbert himself (finally) put the 49ers in the lead with 1:42 to go.

Score 28-24, 49ers

Case Keenum  managed to find Brian Quick for 25 yards to start the next drive, but a sack from Navarro Bowman pulled him out of the game in favor of Nick Foles for 4th and 13 and probably the Rams' last stand. Foles did in fact complete a pass to Kenny Britt, but for only 11 yards.

The 49ers took over on downs and deployed Kendall Gaskins while the Rams burned their time outs. Gaskins managed to pick up the 1st down and the 49ers took a knee to end this surprisingly exciting game.

Final Thoughts:

If this is how the San Francisco 49ers end their abysmal season (well, if this is how they will win), I will gladly take it. Though I sincerely doubt the offense will put up 28 points against the Rams. The Rams typically play very tough against divisional opponents and I see a much lower scoring game.

If we're talking about draft positioning, this is certainly NOT what we want. But if we're going to cost draft stock by winning like this, I guess those five minutes are worth it.

Regardless, I don't see the game going like this. I see a low scoring game where the Rams eventually come out on top. We'll see.

Let's see how Madden does with simulations next season in Madden 17.