The San Francisco 49ers lost a tough one on Sunday, losing to the Arizona Cardinals by a final score of 19-13. The 49ers had the ball and a chance to win it late, but they came up short attempting to convert a 4th and 20. The loss drops the 49ers to 3-8, while the Cardinals improve to 9-2.
The 49ers got a strong effort from their defense, containing the Cardinals top-ranked offense. Carson Palmer threw for 271 yards, but he was unable to do much of anything for most of the first three quarters. Some questionable officiating put the Cardinals in position to win this game late.
The big story, aside from crappy officiating, has to be Blaine Gabbert's strong performance. Gabbert finished the game 25 of 36 for 318 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Gabbert seemed tentative for much of the first half, but whatever adjustments Geep Chryst and company made, they proved valuable. Gabbert and the offense showed signs of life. They came up short in the end, but it provided maybe a little bit of optimism to build on next week.
The officiating was pretty abysmal this week. It does not account entirely for the 49ers loss, but it is worth noting. Even if you want to lay all the blame on the 49ers, poor officiating is plaguing the NFL. It needs to be mentioned repeatedly until we see improvement.
The 49ers will travel to face the Chicago Bears in Week 13. This marks the first of two straight road games, their second such trip of the season. The 49ers will face the Cleveland Browns the following week, but the plan is to return to Santa Clara between the games. The look-ahead line had the 49ers as a touchdown underdog to the surging Bears. Chicago is coming off a huge Thanksgiving road win over the Green Bay Packers, and is 5-6 on the season.