Week 12 - 49ers vs. Cardinals

Well, the 49ers won! Bottom line - winning. Regardless of whom the opponent is. The Niners could well have lost had they not played a good game... and they played a good game. Bottom line.

Some fans predicted a Niner loss after last week's debacle. And remain unimpressed even with a victory this week. Ahhh... to be a sports fan. I certainly can fall victim to such a supersubjective, superbiased point of view of my favorite team. So here we stand: one game out of first place in the NFC West division. Who cares if our win-loss record is 4 - 7. It may not be nearly the ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl, but simply making the playoffs is the fundamental goal. Just ask Takeo Spikes, who has yet to make a playoff appearance in all his years in the league. This is supposed to be his year to make the playoffs, with the 49ers. And it could still happen.

The next opponent? The Green Bay Packers, led by that could-have-been-drafted-by-the-49ers-back-in-2005 quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. At Lambaeu Field. Can the 49ers win? Well, they have shown themselves this season capable of coming close to defeating teams with winning records - but can they win? Not coming within a late-second field goal by the other team of winning (or at least overtime), but actually win? Well, that will be found out next game. Against a winning team and on the road - that's a test the Niners have yet to pass this season.

And this next game will be without heart-and-soul Frank Gore (fractured right hip and out for the rest of the season). Can the 49ers come up with an effective game plan that doesn't include him? Brian Westbrook finally got a chance to play extensively last night - will he be able to duplicate his stupendous level of play against the Packers? How will our beat-up offensive line do? Can the 49ers defense contain the Packers like they did the Cardinals? Okay Niners: don't tell me, show me.

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Much to-do is now being made about Arizona quarterback Derek Anderson. Television coverage showed him smiling on the sidelines when his team was losing badly to the Niners. Then a reporter called him on it during the post-game news conference, and eventually Anderson blew up and left the room. My take? I'm on Anderson's side. Hey, it's an unduly stressful time for a player to be losing so badly; he and his teammate were probably just trying to relieve some of that stress. It was a 'moment' - they weren't joking around throughout the game. We're all human, and the camera caught him at an easy-to-misinterpret moment. I think it's terribly unfair to attribute a lack of caring to him, and then to badger him about it afterwards. His reaction showed more to me about his passion for the game than sharing what was probably a gallows type of humor on the sideline with a teammate. No one likes to lose and to intimate otherwise stinks.