The Rams came out passing, with Marc Bulger swinging a first-down pass to Donnie Avery. That set up Antonio Pittman for a 24-yard burst through the right side of the line.

Working without a huddle to pick up the tempo, Bulger then connected with rookie Keenan Burton for 6 yards. Anything offensive coordinator Al Saunders can do to get Bulger up on the balls of his feet is a good thing.

On third-and-4, Bulger snapped a quick pass to tight end Joe Klopenstein (!) for a first down. Yes, The Klop is still on the team.

Bulger and Avery just missed a TD connection on a post pattern pass. Avery had one-on-one coverage, but Bulger didn’t lead him enough to get the score.

On third-and-long, the 49ers blitzed and forced Bulger to dump off a pass to Kenneth Darby.

That wasn’t enough to for the first down, then Josh Brown missed left on his 48-yard field attempt. Ouch.

So after a promising start, the Rams were unable to get points on their first offensive possession of the game.

But they got the ball back on their 12-yard line on a weird play. San Francisco running back Frank Gore burst through a hole, cut to the right sideline and raced toward the end zone.

Rams safety O.J. Atogwe reached him and punched the ball up into the air. Nickel back Jason Craft also angled over and he fielded the fumble in mid-air before stepping offside.

Alas, the Rams did nothing with this break. They punted the ball back to the 49ers after a three-and-out offensive sequence — and Atogwe had to make the saving tackle on San Francisco return specialist Allen Rossum.

Rossum’s 29-yard return moved the ball to the Rams 34.

Craft wasn’t as fortunate while covering Isaac Bruce; he was flagged for pass interference after literally running out of his shoes. That set the 49ers up at the Rams 6 — and Gore pounded the ball into the end zone.

The 49ers had an early 7-0 lead.