San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Joshua Dobbs (5) looks to pass against the Arizona Cardinals in the first half at State Farm Stadium in Glendale AZ on Sun Jan 5, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
The final game of the season finished in much the same way as the San Francisco 49ers (6-11) season went. It was another in a long list of disappointments this season for San Francisco losing to the Arizona Cardinals (8-9) 47-24.
Going from playing in last year’s Super Bowl to being a Super Bowl contender at the start of the season to self-destructing throughout was a shock to many. The litany of injuries this season was crazy. Today’s loss was a rough way to go into the off-season.
Game recap: The first quarter was a tight one with only a field goal apiece for each teams. After the first fifteen minutes of play the score was knotted up 3-3. San Francisco was first up on the board with a successful 51 yard field goal kick from Jake Moody for the early 3-0 lead.
Moody has struggled significantly in the latter games of the season and the successful kick was a welcome sight. The Cardinals tied up the game with 56 seconds left in the quarter. Chad Ryland also kicked a 51 yard field goal tying the game 3-3 going into the second quarter.
The second quarter was productive for both teams. Greg Dortch caught a 23 yard pass from Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray, the first of two touchdowns he threw in the second quarter. The strike gave Arizona a 10-3 lead in the early play of the quarter.
The Cardinals continued to lead throuout most of the quarter. At 5:43 San Francisco scored their first touchdown of the game. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs rushed for one yard and with the successful Moody PAT this game was all tied up 10-10.
The final two minutes of the half turned out to be a scoring frenzy. With 1:51 left in the half Kyler Murray connected with Trey McBride for two yards and the touchdown taking a 17-10 lead.
San Francisco marched downfield scoring: a Joshua Dobbs to Ricky Pearsall 6 yard pass tying up this game at 17. With 16 seconds left in the half this game would more than likely be tied going into the locker room.
The Cardinals thought otherwise and were able to drive to within field goal range to take back the lead at halftime 20-17. Arizona’s Chad Ryland kicked a 49 yard field goal in a wild two minutes of this first half.
Going into the third quarter, this was anybody’s game in a hotly contested affair. The way these two teams were playing one would think there was something at stake more than merely pride. Kyler Murray connected with Greg Dortch for two yards and his third touchdown of the day at 8:28.
The two-point conversion failed as the Cardinals extended their lead to 26-17. With under five minutes left in the quarter San Francisco’s Joshua Dobbs connected with Ricky Pearsall for six yards. Trailing 24-26 San Francisco was still very much in this game going into the fourth quarter.
The final quarter of this game was all Arizona. They would go on to score three times in the fourth quarter with Kyler Murray throwing his fourth touchdown of the game. San Francisco would come up empty in the quarter.
The Cardinals Michael Carter rushed for four yards to open the quarter giving the Cardinals a 33-24 lead. Kyler Murray passed to Marvin Harrison Jr. for 12 yards and a 40-24 Arizona lead. They would finish off San Francisco with 1:47 left in the game. Tony Jones got open and romped for 46 yards. Arizona had scored their sixth touchdown of the game, the final 47-24.
San Francisco’s Joshua Dobbs finished the game with 326 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Ricky Pearsall had another solid game with six receptions for 69 yards and one touchdown. Rushing honors for the 49ers went to Patrick Tayler Jr. with 109 yards.
Arizona had a killer fourth quarter. Quarterback Kyler Murray finished the game with some amazing stats. He had 242 passing yards, 22 rushing yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. The Cardinals receiving core was solid with Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., Greg Dortch and Zay Jones all contributing to the win.
Game notes: Sunday afternoon the 49ers traveled to Arizona taking on the Arizona Cardinals. At the start of this season, the 49ers were thought of as Super Bowl contenders. It hardly went that way. The injuries began to rear their ugly head early in the season. One key player would return from injury when another would go down.
This had to be so frustrating for the Niners. The injuries continued throughout the entire season; there was no end to the misery. The Cardinals have had a rough season as well with injuries and disappointing play.
The game Sunday was be played in pleasant temperatures with the roof open at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Both teams were looking to close out their season on a winning note. San Francisco did not play a lot of their starters with Brock Purdy being the most notable with Joshua Dobbs starting in his place.
Both of these teams will now go into the off season with a lot to contemplate. San Francisco has a lot of questions to answer as they now look ahead to the 2025 season. It would appear that Head Coach Kyle Shanahan will remain with the team according to reports.
This is good news for San Francisco. Much of what went wrong this season had little to do with the coaching and much to do with the multitude of injuries they suffered all year. It will be a long off-season for the team as they look ahead to a new start this fall 2025.
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