Coming off a blowout victory at home against the St. Louis Rams to clinch the NFC Western Division for the first time in nine years, the 49ers made a trip to the desert to face a hot Arizona Cardinals team that's won 4 of their last 5 games entering Sunday's match. Hoping to not only put an end to Arizona's streak, but also add to theirs as well as maintain sole possession of the number two seed in the conference with the New Orleans Saints only a game behind, the San Francisco offense would need to improve in an area they struggled at last week in spite of their lopsided victory -- converting in the red zone. Those woes would continue, however, as the 49ers had a number of chances to put the game away in the early going, but failed to do so.
Blown opportunities would lead to San Francisco's demise as the 49er offense made three trips to red zone in the first half with only nine points to show for. Needing a touchdown, the 49ers appeared to have finally solved their problem in the second quarter with a fake 50 yard field goal as holder Andy Lee lobbed a pass to a wide open Jonathan Goodwin who made his way into the end zone. Referee's blew the play dead, however, after Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt attempted to challenge the previous play before San Francisco hiked the ball. Television replays showed that the ball was hiked before the sound of the whistle, but upon checking the replay system, the umpiring crew would experience technical difficulties which resulted in the play to be repeated, nullifying the score. Making matters worse, David Akers would eventually miss the field goal as his attempt went wide right. The miss was also Akers' first of the season beyond 50 yards.
What should've been a 13-0 lead for the 49ers would soon be a 7-6 lead for Arizona as John Skelton who came in for the injured Kevin Kolb who left in the first quarter with a concussion, found WR Early Doucet with a pass up the middle for a 60 yard touchdown on the very next play. San Francisco would answer back on the following drive with another field goal to retake the lead before a Dashon Goldson interception on the ensuing drive setup David Akers for his fourth field goal of the first half, as he split the uprights from 22 yards out to give the 49ers a 12-7 lead heading into the half. With adjustments to be made on offense still seeking their first trip to the end zone, the 49ers would waste little time in the second half as Frank Gore who would later eclipse the 1,000 yard mark for the fifth time in his career, capitalized on San Francisco's good field position with a 37-yard touchdown run to give his team a 19-7 lead.
That would be all the scoring the 49ers would do and with one of the premiere defenses in the league, that should been enough. Unfortunately it wasn't, as Skelton and company turned it up on offense, erasing a 12-point deficit with a pair of touchdown passes to Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Roberts. Arizona's defense then put together a few solid drives of their own to contain Alex Smith and complete the upset (if you wanna call it that), handing the 49ers their third loss of the season with a 21-19 win.
Upcoming: For the first time this season, the San Francisco 49ers will be featured on ESPN's Monday Night Football this week against a Pittsburgh Steelers team that similar to San Francisco is jockeying for a top seed in their conference. With the 49ers now a half a game behind New Orleans for the no. 2 seed, Monday's game in San Francisco could very well be a must win granted the Saints' final two games of the season are at home against relatively easy opponents, meanwhile the 49ers still have to make a trip to Seattle to face one of the more tougher teams at home. Making things a bit easier for the 49ers on offense will be the absence of Steelers linebacker James Harrison who was suspended after his helmet-to-helmet hit on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy on December 8. Normally a hit of this magnitude would result in a fine, but given the repeat offender that Harrison is the Commissioner's office issued a 1-game suspension.
Preview & Prediction: The 49ers might also benefit from the absence of Pittsburgh's QB Ben Roethlisberger who's been listed as day-to-day after suffering a sprained ankle in the Thursday night win against Cleveland. Roethlisberger's been limited in practice and will be a game time decision according to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. If Tomlin does decide to sit his star quarterback in hopes of him recovering fully in time for their week 16 meeting against the visiting St. Louis Rams, expect to see the 49ers dominant defense feast off of the veteran backup QB Charlie Batch and win by a score of 23-13. If Roethlisberger is healthy enough to play, however, the game could go either way and should be a close one.
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