With the Cardinals having an opportunity to close out the NFC West crown with a win at Candlestick, the hometown 49ers came out with guns blazing. Led by the outstanding efforts of
Ahmad Brooks (3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles),
Dashon Goldson (5 tackles, 2 ffs, 1 interception) and
Patrick Willis (9 tackles, 1 sack, 1 ff), San Francisco forced 7 turnovers (5 out of 7 forced fumbles recovered, 2 interceptions), including 5 in the first half alone, and hit
Kurt Warner hard and often.
Justin Smith finished without a sack, but knocked around and hurried Warner as well as recovered a Brooks ff.
Mark Roman was Johnny on the spot as well, with 2 recoveries of his own.
Dre' Bly had a fumble recovery touchdown called down near the Arizona goalline, which led to the first touchdown of the day,
Alex Smith to
Vernon Davis.
Smith was up and down throughout the night with erratic throwing and poor accuracy including two interceptions (one off an amazing play by
Darnell Dockett, the other was simply a terrible forced pass while Smith stared down his receiver that if not for tripping over himself, would have been a touchdown for
Adrian Wilson). However, at least Smith did not look completely lost out there like his usual history.
Michael Crabtree also made an amazing adjustment to a slightly inaccurate downfield throw by Smith, snatching the ball out of the air and taking it to the house for a TD. The offense was run through
Frank Gore, who finally got the carries he needed to produce, as he and the 49ers offensive line took it to the Cardinals' defense, 167 yards on 25 carries and a game finishing touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.
David Baas was particularly dominant, as he came around on several pull runs and completely opened up several nice runs for Gore.
The Niners, at 6-7, have a very low chance to make the playoffs as the 6th seed but the way they beat up on Arizona after the Cards did the same to the Vikings and the 49ers' defense became a sieve versus Seattle gives the fans some hope.
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Former 49ers punter Tom Wittum has passed away at the age of 60. Wittum, who played for the 49ers from 1973-1977 (70 games, 40.8 yds per punt, two-time Pro Bowl selection), died on Friday, January 22. Our condolences go out to the Wittum family.
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Offensive line coach Chris Foerster was allowed to leave the team to sign with Mike Shanahan in Washington. The 49ers quickly replaced him with former Chiefs and Seahawks OL coach Mike Solari. Foerster's line struggled terribly throughout the year, whether it was the talent or the coaching or both is yet to be seen. Solari, a native of Daly City, saw great success in Kansas City from 1997-2005 as OL coach before taking on offensive coordinator duties the next two years. Solari spend the past two years as Seattle's OL coach and was released with Pete Carroll's hiring. Previously, Solari served under the late great Bobb McKittrick on George Seifert's staff from 1992 to 1996 as tight ends coach and assistant offensive line coach, so he brings a terrific resume to the table to hopefully fix what arguably is the worst offensive line in the NFL.
Frank Gore is headed to Miami for his second career Pro Bowl appearance. With the NFC's top rusher Stephen Jackson out of the game with an injury, first alternate Gore was named as his replacement. Gore rushed for 1,120 yards (T-11th NFL) and 10 touchdowns (T-9th NFL) while having 406 yards and 3 touchdowns receiving this season.
Matt Maiocco reports that the 49ers have replaced fired ST coach Al Everest with Kurt Schottenheimer, the younger brother of Marty and uncle of Jets offensive coordinator Brian. He has been a defensive and special teams coordinator at both the NFL and college levels in the past for three decades, most recently as the secondary coach for the Packers and has not coached special teams since 1994 with the Kansas City Chiefs. Last week the 49ers interviewed their #1 candidate, former Bills ST coach Bobby April, but April chose to go to Philadelphia instead.
Vernon Davis, Patrick Willis and Andy Lee have been named to the 2010 NFC Pro Bowl roster, all as starters.
