A Must Win?
by Erik Klackner
09.28.05 – It’s hard to imagine a game in Week 4 for a team that went 2-14 last season to carry the magnitude of this week’s game against the Arizona Cardinals, but this game indeed carries that weight. Coming off a bitter loss to the hated Cowboys in which they held the lead for 58 minutes of the contest, the 49ers enter uncharted territory (Mexico City to be precise) as they play the first game in some time that they actually SHOULD win.
The 49ers have played quite well on the season, with the exception of the entire Philadelphia game. Yes, they gave up some leads at home, but this team is still learning how to win, and more importantly, learning how to play with attitude and passion. Meanwhile, Arizona has been clobbered in their opening 3 games, and stands to enter this week minus starting QB Kurt Warner. The writing is on the wall. The writing should be on the wall.
The 49ers MUST win this game.They must win this game to show that they are capable of realizing their own potential, and able to win games against teams that, as unusual as it may sound, are inferior to them. Playing over your head against teams with playoff aspirations (as they did in Weeks 1 and 3) is certainly cause for optimism, but not as much as carrying the confident air that goes with being a superior team. The 49ers will not have many chances to assume this role too often this season, so it is imperative that they do so this week.
Compound that with this being the 49ers only appearance on national television this season, and the game takes on even more significance. Virtually the entire country still views the 49ers as the 2004 version that was clearly the worst team in the NFL. They view the Week 1 victory against the Rams as a failure on the part of the Rams as opposed to success on the part of the 49ers. This is a chance for the 49ers to show the entire country that they have moved on and are an improving, young team that will knock you in the mouth and give you the absolute best shot they have every time out.
I cannot speak for the rest of you, but these first three weeks, I have watched the games operating on the assumption that the 49ers were the inferior team and were going to lose. I thought they would be winless going into the BYE week. But after watching the games unfold, I have a newfound respect for the young players on this team, and the veterans like Bryant Young who are taking to their new positions and schemes nicely. With those types of performances come expectations, and for the first time since sometime in 2003, I fully expect and anticipate the 49ers to win the game this week.
This game could define their season, and seasons to come. Perhaps that seems like an inappropriate amount of weight to give this game, but I do not think so. I think this is the most important type of game of all for a young team looking to return from the bottom of the barrel. Any underdog can rise up on a given day and give a good team all they can handle. But it takes a team with discipline, confidence, and trust (the Mike Nolan buzzword of the week) to embrace the role of ‘favorite’ and run with it. The chance to do this, in these circumstances, for an ESPN Sunday Night audience, is something that the 49ers will not have the chance to do again. This game can be a coming-out party.
But most importantly: This game MUST be a statement game. And that statement MUST be: ‘This isn’t 2004 anymore.’
