The Arizona Cardinals have had some painful losses throughout the years but one of the most painful losses came on this day ten years ago. On December 29, 2013, the Arizona Cardinals took on the San Francisco 49ers.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Going into the game, the Arizona Cardinals were 10-5 and on a three game win streak. This included a win over the eventual Superbowl champion Seattle Seahawks. The Cardinals also won seven of their eight previous games. Arizona was playing great football heading into the final week of the season.
The San Francisco 49ers were 12-3 heading into the final game of the season. They were on a five game win streak which also included a win over the Seahawks.
This was a match-up of two good teams who were peaking at the right time. This game had lots of ramifications attached to it.
The Seattle Seahawks were rooting for the Cardinals because they could clinch home field advantage with win of their own or 49ers loss.
The Carolina Panthers were rooting for San Francisco because they could clinch home field advantage with a Seattle loss and 49ers win.
The New Orleans Saints needed either a win or Cardinals loss to clinch a playoff spot.
San Francisco could clinch a first round bye with a win and a Seahawks loss.
The Cardinals needed to defeat San Francisco and a Saints loss to get into the playoffs. So, this game was very important to say the least.
The Comeback That Wasn’t
The San Francisco 49ers came out hot to the start the game. They scored on their first three possessions. The 49ers scored a field goal and two touchdowns while the Cardinals had a three and out, threw an interception, and missed a field goal. The 49ers were up 17-0 with 56 seconds left in the first quarter.
Everything was going right for the 49ers but the Cardinals were not going away easily. Arizona would finally mount some offense in the second quarter and score a touchdown. The score was 17-7, 49ers heading into halftime.
The third quarter was pretty quiet from a scoring standpoint. The Cardinals finally got some momentum towards the end of that quarter which led to a field goal at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The 49ers were up 17-10 with 14:52 left in the game.
The Cardinals and 49ers exchanged a few possessions with no scores. Then Carson Palmer threw a 34-yard touchdown to Andre Roberts to tie the game at 17 with 3:28 left in the game.
The 49ers responded with a drive that ended in a 56-yard field goal by Phil Dawson. This was the first time San Francisco scored since the first quarter. 49ers were up 20-17 with 1:50 left in the game.
Arizona would respond with a field goal of their own tying the game at 20 with 34 seconds left. Seemed like the game was destined for overtime but Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers offense had other plans.
Kaepernick led the 49ers down the field with clutch passes to Anquan Boldin and Quinton Patton which set up a 40-yard field goal attempt. Dawson’s field goal attempt was good as time expired. San Francisco won 23-20 and the Cardinals were eliminated from playoff contention.
The Players of the Game
Colin Kaepernick had a great game for the 49ers. He went 21/34 for 310 yards and two touchdowns.
The leading receiver for San Francisco was Anquan Boldin. Boldin had nine receptions for 149 yards and a touchdown.
One of the reasons the 49ers could not pull away after their fast start was the lack of a running game. Their leading rusher was Quinton Patton with 26 yards.
Carson Palmer truly gave it his all in this game. He finished the game with 407 passing yards and two touchdowns as he completed 28 of his 49 passes.
Larry Fitzgerald was the leading receiver for the Cardinals. He finished the game with six receptions for 113 yards.
Arizona’s leading rusher was the now very popular Rashard Mendenhall who finished the game with 47 yards on 10 carries.
The 2023 Arizona Cardinals are not involved in any playoff scenarios besides maybe playing a spoiler role but hopefully they can be back in high stake games this time next year.
