San Francisco’s offense recuperates against NFC west rival St. Louis

Associated Press

St. Louis

Colin Kaepernick threw two touchdown passes, Frank Gore had his first 100-yard game of the season and the San Francisco 49ers’ defense stepped up without some of their stars in a 35-11 rout over the St. Louis Rams on Thursday night.

Anquan Boldin had five catches for 90 yards and a touchdown, and Gore had 153 yards on 20 carries and a 34-yard score for San Francisco (2-2), which was outscored 46-10 the previous two games. Navarro Bowman had two of the 49ers’ five sacks with a strip leading to a fourth-quarter scoring run by Anthony Dixon.

The Rams (1-3) had an overtime win and tie against San Francisco last year, and took the early lead Thursday before falling flat. Greg Zuerlein banged in a 40-yard field goal off the right upright to end a nine-game scoring drought in the first quarter, but the 49ers answered with 28 straight points.

Gore more than doubled his output from the previous three weeks, surpassing 100 yards rushing with a 34-yard TD run late in the first half. Kaepernick then engineered another scoring drive early in the third quarter, finishing it off with a 12-yard scoring pass to Vernon Davis.

Kaepernick accounted for 70 of San Francisco’s 88 yards on the ensuing drive, 63 passing and a 7-yard scramble. Davis, who had been questionable because of a hamstring injury, broke open for an easy catch in the left side of the end zone to push the lead to 21-3.

Acquired by San Francisco for only a sixth-round pick in the offseason, Boldin had 208 yards on 13 catches in a season-opening win over Green Bay. But he had just one catch the following week in a loss to division rival Seattle and a mediocre 67-yard outing against Indianapolis on Sunday.

Boldin came into the game with 83 career receptions against the Rams, the most of any opponent he has faced.