"That's when I saw Superman come in," Hill said.

Superman, in this case, was teammate Josh Morgan, who swooped in to make the winning grab. The switch of heroes was fine with the 49ers, who spent much of the day playing like mild-mannered Clark Kent before Morgan saved the day.

His 48-yard catch with 1:22 left in the game capped the 49ers' 17-16 comeback victory on Sunday over the St. Louis Rams. It also rescued Shaun Hill from an otherwise forgettable performance and delivered the latest boost to coach Mike Singletary's chances of retuning in 2009.

"I don't know who the receiver was and I don't care," Singletary said. "I'm just thankful one of them came down with it."

A week ago against Miami, the 49ers played a strong game and botched the final minutes. This was a reversal, with the 49ers (6-9) bumbling through everything except the frantic finish.

Trailing 16-3 to the woeful Rams with just over four minutes remaining, everything suddenly started going right.

The comeback started when Shaun Hill threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce with 4:03 remaining. That catch delivered a double-scoop of significance: It cut the score to 16-10 and provided Bruce with his 1,000th career reception, a mark reached by only four others.

The scoreboard flashed a congratulatory message to Bruce, who didn't see it until Morgan grabbed him on the shoulder pads and pointed to the screen.

Minutes later, Morgan provided a highlight of his own. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz dispatched Morgan and Jason Hill on nine-routes known more commonly as a fade pattern and by design both receivers wound up near each other in the left corner of the end zone.

Even Morgan wasn't sure of the target. He jumped to make the catch because he thought Hill was a defender.

"I saw the ball in the air and just went up to make a play," Morgan said.

For the record, Shaun Hill said he was indeed aiming for Morgan. And it's easy to believe because the quarterback was nothing but on target in the final minutes.

Before that Hill was so bad, so erratic, that Singletary benched him or at least tried to. In the third quarter Singletary told backup J.T. O'Sullivan he was going in after Hill's third interception. But something about the look in the quarterback's eyes prompted the coach to call a reverse: He kept Hill in and O'Sullivan was back in a baseball cap after just a handful of warm-up throws.

Far from shaken by his slow start, Hill was so revved up that he asked to address the whole team at halftime.

"Guys, we came here to win," he told them. "The opportunity is still out there."

The Rams led 13-3 at that point behind a 30-yard touchdown catch by rookie Keenan Burton and three field goals by Josh Brown.

But St. Louis (2-13) scored just once after halftime, another Brown field goal.

The 49ers, meanwhile, got it together. Hill was 10-of-15 for 127 yards, two touchdowns and a 132.5 passer rating in the fourth quarter.

This from a guy who almost got benched?

"I was pretty doggone determined to make sure (Singletary) knew that I was fine," Hill said.

After Bruce's touchdown catch, the 49ers defense forced a three-and-out. The Rams' drive was supposed to eat up the clock but lasted less than two minutes, allowing the 49ers to get the ball back with 2:27 to play.

Three plays and a penalty later, Hill found Morgan for the rookie's first catch since Nov. 10.

Still, St. Louis had 1:16 left to avoid a nine-game losing streak. Quarterback Marc Bulger quickly moved the team to midfield, as visions of a winning field goal danced in the Rams' heads.

But 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown intercepted a pass intended for Donnie Avery with 22 seconds to play. Earlier in the game, Avery had beaten Brown on the same route when the cornerback tripped.

"I said if he runs that route again, I'm going to snatch it," Brown said.

Such redemption was the theme of the day. It also underscored two of Singletary's most talked-about tenets. The coach often stresses his so-called Formula for Success, his six-point program for turning around the franchise.

The last two things on Singletary's list are "Finish" and "Heart." Players talked after the game about how that message is getting through. With one game remaining, the question is whether Singletary will get the chance to keep coaching them.

"I'm not looking at it as, 'Wow, I hope this helps my chances,' " Singletary said. "I just know that I'm doing the best I can. That's all that matters to me."

Contact Daniel Brown at dbrown@mercurynews.com.Next gameSunday, vs. Redskins, 1:15 p.m.INSIDE Isaac Bruce makes his 1,000th career reception. Page 5