The 49ers aren’t quite dead yet.
Okay, so they are still on life support. But Monday night’s 24-9 victory over Arizona just made next week’s 49ers-Eagles game a lot more interesting.
San Francisco, now 6-7, got plenty of help along the way from the Cardinals. Arizona turned the ball over seven times, including five fumbles. Kurt Warner was sacked four times, and continually threw into double coverage.
Give the 49ers defense credit. They looked a step faster than Arizona offense up front, and their secondary held Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston to 77 combined yards. (Fitzgerald returned to the game after missing time with a knee injury.)
The Cardinals only gained 245 yards on offense, as San Francisco played keepaway for over 36 minutes. And takeaway.
49ers quarterback Alex Smith had one of his roughest games of the season with only 144 yards on 35 attempts, but it didn’t make a difference.
Seven turnovers cover up many ills, as does Frank Gore. The Inconvenient Truth rushed for 167 yards and a score, helping to close the game out on the ground.
The Cardinals are 8-5 and should still win the NFC West. The Lions and Rams are up next and both teams are somehow getting worse.
San Francisco also faces St. Louis and Detroit in their final two games. Keep that schedule in mind when the 49ers head to Philadelphia Sunday. A seven loss team is not out of it in the NFC because of the softened NFC East. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
For tonight, Mike Singletary can enjoy a season sweep over the defending NFC Champs.
And now we can enjoy going to bed.
Favre miracle and the Ref’s whistle, or lack thereof, last week is keeping SF from the playoffs. Crazier things have happened, but…
Ahmad Brooks looked good
Eh, as an AZ Cards fan, this should be frustrating…but its the Cards style. They will now come out and win the next two and probably finish 10-6. As for me, I will go enjoy a cabin in AZ’s high country this weekend, 50 degrees, cool crisp air, and will not worry about the Cards making the playoffs. Should be relaxing….
For any one that doesn’t know here is how the rest of the season plays out: If the Cards win 2 more games they are in, meaning they would have to be upset by the Lions or Rams. They also clinch if the Niners lose a single game. The Niners aren’t out until they lose a couple games, they can still win the wildcard some how.
Wow, what is the deal with the Cardinals? One week they look like a playoff team, the next they look like they completely forgot how to play football.
They’re just lucky their division is so terrible or else they wouldn’t even have a shot at a playoff spot…
An amazing win… and oh, did we need it. We’ll knock off the Lions & Rams… I’m going to Philly to watch them play next week, and if they play like they did Today (Monday)… then oh, we’re playoff bound, because I have a feeling the Cowboys are losing to both the Saints & Philly, winning over Washington bringing them to, 9-7… Then the Giants, I’m believing will lose against the Panthers & the Viks, winning over Washinton as well, bringing them to 8-8. Then the Falcons, Losing to the Jets & an upset by Buffalo, taking out the Bucs, they’ll end up 7-9. Having the Niners hopefully come out with the 9-7… so it will hopefully be a close one between the Cowboys & 9ers…, But then again looking at true stats… Cowboys, as everyone else knows, suck in December, so if they lose all their games, and everything goes as well as I hope & predict… & the 9ers pull it over the Eagles (…God I hate them)… then we’ll be in the wildcard, first time since Garcia. So… go 49ers!
I have a million friends….heh….anyway, one of my many girlfriends and I were joking to our close friend Chris(who is a big Cardinals fan)that we were going to put a curse on the Cardinals if he wasn’t more respectful towards us. Anyway, he got cool so we told him the curse was off.
Well, 7 Cardinal turnovers in the game. Now, we have to swear up and down and convince Chris that we didn’t put the hex on the Cardinals. He may not believe us however! LOL
It’s bad enough the Steelers drubbed Arizona in the Super Bowl last year. Now this. Poor Chris:(
The NFC is a complete mess after the first four or so teams. I feel like once you get past the Saints, Vikings, Eagles, and Packers, it’s just a pool of mediocrity available to fill two spots (one of which being a division leader spot). The 49ers have a legit chance against the Eagles simply because they’re more desperate than the Eagles are right now, given that the rest of the NFC East is either underperforming or just that bad. The 49ers could definitely end up 9-7, probably won’t pick up their division, but could certainly fill in that last wildcard spot if Mr. November and the Cowboys continue to be in December form.
The Giants have the Redskins, Panthers, and Vikings coming up. Panthers game might be a tossup, but I’m gonna assume they take it to the Skins and get killed by the Vikings. We’ll say 8-8.
The Cowboys have the Saints, Redskins, and Eagles. Given recent history, we’ll say they lose to the Saints, beat the Redskins, and lose to the Eagles. We’ll say 9-7.
Falcons have the Jets, Bills, and Bucs, which they could conceivably come out of 2-1, so we’ll say 8-8.
49ers have Eagles, Lions, and Rams (oh my). We’ll say 2-1 (if the Eagles game was at Candlestick, I’d say 3-0). So 9-7.
Assuming the Eagles win at least one of their games, they’re winning the division. Cardinals are gonna beat Detroit and St. Louis, so they’re winning their division. Green Bay won’t catch up with the Vikings, but they’ve more or less got their Wildcard spot locked up. So that basically leaves four mediocre teams vying for the last spot. Since the Cowboys are the Cowboys and December is December, I could see them losing to the Redskins (they always seem to play tough against NFC East teams). So I think there’s a better than average chance that the 49ers boosted themselves into the playoffs with their win tonight.
This Steelers fan went to bed with a smile. Misery loves company.
mustbechris
you can’t logically predict one game let alone 15 more to be played as a group when nfl teams in 2009 do NOT show up whenever they please for whatever reason.
what is sticking out like a sore thumb, that teams who on paper on clearly the best team in that game WHEN THE GAME IS ON NATIONAL TV, when it is the game the whole country is betting on by coincidence – (ie- lots of moolah wagered) that favorite doesnt show up as throws in a stinker. Just to name a few lately Arizona vs SF, NYG vs. Denver, Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland, etc.
Expect Dallas “with the poor Dec record” to beat New Orleans who is unbeaten and great at home this week- this game from these ref calls and teams not showing up has made this league the equivalent of the WWF.
49ers are going to have a tough time in Philly. Philly hasn’t clinched anything yet and they are still fighting with the Cards for that 3 spot(assuming they win the division). So it’s not like San Fran is the only team with something to play with. Plus the 49ers are 1-5 on the road this year and the forecast is calling for snow showers. Not a climate the Niners are used to.
to KrazyTrumPeter05: if the cardinals were in any division other than the saints or colts they would still be front runners for a playoff spot.. Don’t blame the “weekness” of the NFC West.. There are plenty of divisions that are having their problems this year and the cardinals have a legit shot at being a 3 seed..
I don’t mind the 49ers at all, and I’m glad they killed Arizona. They are a good opponent, hopefully they can win out in the NFC West and make it to the playoffs instead of the Cardinals. Arizona either destroys teams or gets destroyed, at least the 49ers make the games interesting and competitive.
to KrazyTrumPeter05: if the cardinals were in any division other than the saints or colts they would still be front runners for a playoff spot.. Don’t blame the “weekness” of the NFC West.. There are plenty of divisions that are having their problems this year and the cardinals have a legit shot at being a 3 seed..