49ers position grades, analysis from Week 9 win vs. Cardinals

The San Francisco 49ers held on to beat the Arizona Cardinals 28-25 in Week 9 on Thursday Night Football, which saw the offense outperform the usually stout Niners defense. Niner Noise dishes out postgame grades.

It wasn’t always pretty. But San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan finally has his first win over the Arizona Cardinals, who had won eight straight over the Niners before Week 9’s Thursday Night Football Showdown at University of Phoenix Stadium.

San Francisco pulled off a 28-25 win to improve to 8-0, although it wasn’t exactly easy. The Cardinals, led by rookie quarterback Kyler Murray and recently acquired running back Kenyan Drake, closed what was a 21-7 halftime gap by outscoring the 49ers 18-7 in quarters three and four.

And if it weren’t for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and Shanahan’s offense, the Niners would have seen their 2019 unbeaten streak come to a close in front of a national audience against a three-win Arizona squad.

Garoppolo and the passing offense was on point during the contest, while San Francisco’s running game had its moments, only to see them slip away in the second half when Shanahan was trying to run down the clock.

Thank goodness for a successful stretch of 49ers third-down conversions.

Defensively, the game was what cornerback Richard Sherman referred to reporters as “humbling for the defense.”

Still, San Francisco finished its short week with a victory, which is ultimately what counts most. And the Niners proved to themselves and the rest of the league they can win on offense when their defense isn’t totally on point.

Naturally, the 49ers postgame position grades will reflect well for one side of the ball, while not so much on the other.

Let’s break it down.