49ers survive early mistakes, come back in Week 11 to beat Cardinals

The San Francisco 49ers survived many penalties and mental mistakes to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 36-26 in Week 11. It came down to the wire, but a costly turnover by Arizona with 25 seconds left handed San Francisco its ninth win.

The San Francisco 49ers were playing their first game since the heartbreaking overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football a week ago.

Earlier in the week, there was worry among the organization about being able to send out a full squad for its Week 11 home bout against the Arizona Cardinals. The Niners have been hit with injuries to extremely key players this season. Today, they were without running back Matt Breida, kicker Robbie Gould, offensive tackle Joe Staley and tight end George Kittle, just to name a few.

It was a rough first half for the Niners, who had one of their worst 30 minutes of football this season, going into the half down 16-10. Two of the three defensive pass interference calls on cornerback Richard Sherman led to the Cardinals scoring 13 points.

The Robert Saleh-led defense also had trouble stopping Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. Murray, the 2019 first overall NFL Draft pick, shredded the 49ers defense going 15-of-21 for 108 yards, two touchdowns and 45 rushing yards by halftime.

In the second quarter, the 49ers were finally able to put some points on the board when tight end Ross Dwelley scored his first career touchdown:

The second half started completely different for San Francisco. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo lead the offense on a six-play, 84-yard drive which ended with Dwelley’s second score of the afternoon:

https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1196201871708262401

A few minutes into the fourth quarter, Garoppolo fired his third touchdown pass of the day, this time to Kendrick Bourne:

Garoppolo was able to silence the noise about him “not being elite.” He had career highs all over the stat sheet, going 34-of-45 for 424 yards with four touchdowns against two interceptions, all for a passer rating of 115.4.

With the score 26-23 in favor of the visitors, Jimmy G took the 49ers offense all the way down the field and found running back Jeff Wilson for the game-winning touchdown:

https://twitter.com/NBCS49ers/status/1196220932571877376

Just when one would think the Cardinals would just try to run it out and go home with a four-point loss, 49ers defensive back D.J. Reed scooped up a fumble on Arizona’s final offensive snap of the game and rumbled in for a 49ers touchdown with no time remaining.

In a game which looked over in the first quarter, the Niners flexed their muscles and proved why they are not only the best team in the NFC, but the best team in the NFL.

They take on the Green Bay Packers in another prime-time game next Sunday evening with a stunning 9-1 record.