49ers 37, Cardinals 31 (OT) | Win not in Cards again
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Everybody beats the San Francisco 49ers - except the Arizona Cardinals.
Tully Banta-Cain pounced on Kurt Warner’s fumble in the Cardinals’ end zone to give the 49ers a wild 37-31 overtime victory and end their eight-game losing streak Sunday.
“You could have swore we just won the Super Bowl the way we were celebrating,” Banta-Cain said.
The 49ers are 2-0 against Arizona, 1-8 against everybody else.
The Cardinals (5-6) could have won moments before Warner’s fumble, but Neil Rackers missed a 32-yard field goal.
First-year Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt acknowledged he made several mistakes on the sideline, probably none more important than on that bizarre field goal sequence.
Rackers initially lined up for a 27-yard try, and kicked it through the uprights. But a delay-of-game penalty nullified the kick and pushed Rackers 5 yards back, where he hooked his attempt just to the left of the upright.
“The clock ran out fast,” Whisenhunt said. “That’s my fault. I take full responsibility for that. I thought we had time. It wasn’t any different than normal. Obviously, I should have called a timeout there.”
Moments later, the Cardinals found themselves pinned on their own 3.
Warner dropped back to pass and was hit by Ronald Fields. The quarterback fumbled, then Banta-Cain fell on the ball to give San Francisco (2-9) its first victory since Sept. 16.
“The ball was supposed to be out quick,” Whisenhunt said. “We had success with that before, and we couldn’t do it. In hindsight, yes, I would have liked to run the ball.”
Warner didn’t have much to say about the play.
“I didn’t see anything open,” he said, “and I was just looking for a place to get rid of it at that point, and wasn’t able to do so.”
Warner, playing with a torn ligament in his non-throwing elbow, completed 34 of 48 passes for 484 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted twice early by Walt Harris. His completions included a desperation 48-yarder to Larry Fitzgerald to put the Cardinals ahead 21-17 as the half ended.
Trent Dilfer, starting in place of injured Alex Smith for the 49ers, completed 25 of 39 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions. Frank Gore, playing like the powerhouse back of last season, rushed for 116 yards and caught 11 passes for 98 yards.
“We just kept pounding the rock,” Gore said. “We just kept pounding, kept pounding. We kind of wore them out.”
The victory came five days after the 49ers hired veteran coach Ted Tollner to help embattled first-year offensive coordinator Jim Hostler.