TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Bill Walsh called him "the next Joe Montana" and was livid when the San Francisco 49ers passed on the young Arizona State quarterback in the 1997 draft to choose Jim Druckenmiller instead.

Now Jake Plummer gets a shot at Walsh's team, the team Montana directed to four Super Bowl triumphs. Monday Night Football will provide a national stage for Plummer and the rest of the Arizona Cardinals to try to show just how right Walsh was.

Walsh, who coached three of Montana's Super Bowl victories and now is the team's vice president and general manager, was out of the 49ers' power structure that fateful draft day.

"I knew they were interested in me, but it didn't happen," Plummer said. "Once they drafted Druckenmiller, I knew I wasn't going to go there. Free agency is the only thing that would get me there, and I doubt I'll ever leave here."

Even though he wears No. 16, the same as Montana, Plummer said he's not interested in being the next anyone.

"My goals are my goals," he said, emphasizing the second "my." "I want to win as many games as we can and go to the Super Bowl and be Jake Plummer and not try to be anybody else."

San Francisco defensive end Charles Haley doesn't think Plummer should be mentioned in the same breath as Montana, at least not now.

"Jake is not there," Haley said. "He throws a lot of interceptions. In his first two games, he threw more interceptions than I saw Joe throw in his whole career. So, no, there's no comparison for me."

Bothered by the right thumb he sprained in the preseason, Plummer has seven interceptions and just one touchdown pass. In last week's 19-16 loss at Miami, Plummer completed 11 of 27 passes for just 112 yards and was intercepted four times.

Yet his mistakes often enhance his flair for the dramatic as the Cardinals dig an early hole, only to climb out at the last minute.

In his 28 games since he became Arizona's quarterback, "Captain Chaos and the Cardiac Cardinals" have rallied in the fourth quarter to win 10 times, the latest a 25-24 win in Philadelphia in their season opener two weeks ago.

Plummer has brought the Cardinals success after years of mediocrity or worse. Last year's 9-7 record was the first winning season since 1984. Their playoff victory at Dallas last January was their first in 51 seasons.

He is the main reason Arizona is playing on Monday night for only the third time since the franchise moved from St. Louis 11 years ago.

"I enjoyed watching him in college," 49ers coach Steve Maricucci said. "I didn't enjoy playing against him. I was over there with the Cal team the night they clinched a trip to the Rose Bowl and tore those darned goalposts down. He was a terrific player then, and he's even better now. He's a tough guy and he's fun for the fans to watch."

In some ways, Plummer will be going against a more seasoned version of himself in San Francisco's Steve Young.

"They have the same agent," Mariucci joked. "They both are very good at creating and improvising and making plays with their legs, making plays when a play breaks down, running around and scrambling, finding somebody open, doing something out of the ordinary that may not be drawn up in the playbook."

Sometimes, Plummer admits, he tries too hard to make those out-of-the-ordinary plays, and he sure could use some help from an Arizona ground game that has managed just 2.2 yards per carry.

Young and the 49ers have problems, too.

San Francisco was humiliated at Jacksonville 41-3 in its season opener. Young's legs are 13 years older than Plummer's, and he's coming off one of the most punishing games of his career. When San Francisco evened its record at 1-1 by coming from behind to beat New Orleans 28-21 last Sunday, Young was sacked five times and knocked down, often viciously, 16 more.

Mariucci reeled off a long list of things the 49ers can do to try to ease the pressure on his 37-year-old quarterback: throw the ball quicker; block better; keep more players in to block; move the quarterback around more; run the ball more; and change personnel.

"But in general, we just need to get better," he said. "We have been better and we need to get there again."

Young will face an Arizona defense that was tough against Miami.

"They've got speed, quickness and some nice scheme stuff," Young said. "They come from different places. They're very opportunistic, and that's not just an ethereal thing. That's something you practice. It's an attitude they bring to their defense. You can see it on film."

Coach Vince Tobin doesn't like to hear Plummer compared with Montana, Young or anybody else.

"I think it's unfair when a guy is in his third year of starting," Tobin said. "I remember Steve Young breaking into the league and being in the USFL and he struggled like heck, getting traded out of Tampa because he wasn't successful. At the end of Jake's career, I'll make those comparisons."

Plummer recalls his days as a high school quarterback in Boise, Idaho. Walsh was the head coach at Stanford and wasn't calling Jake the next Joe Montana then.

"I remember a long time back when I was a nobody," Plummer said, "and he didn't want me then."

SAN FRANCISCO Season schedule and results

ARIZONA Season schedule and results

September 12 @Jacksonville L 3-41 September 19 New Orleans W 28-21 September 27 @Arizona 9:00pm ET October 3 Tennessee 4:15pm ET October 10 @St. Louis 1:00pm ET October 17 Carolina 4:15pm ET October 24 @Minnesota 1:00pm ET November 7 Pittsburgh 4:15pm ET November 14 @New Orleans 1:00pm ET November 21 St. Louis 4:15pm ET November 29 Green Bay 9:00pm ET December 5 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET December 12 Atlanta 4:15pm ET December 18 @Carolina 4:15pm ET December 26 Washington 8:20pm ET January 3 @Atlanta 9:00pm ET

September 12 @Philadelphia W 25-24 September 19 @Miami L 16-19 September 27 San Francisco 9:00pm ET October 3 @Dallas 1:00pm ET October 10 NY Giants 4:05pm ET October 17 Washington 8:20pm ET October 31 New England 4:05pm ET November 7 @NY Jets 1:00pm ET November 14 Detroit 4:15pm ET November 21 Dallas 4:15pm ET November 28 @NY Giants 1:00pm ET December 5 Philadelphia 4:05pm ET December 12 @Washington 1:00pm ET December 19 Buffalo 8:20pm ET December 26 @Atlanta 1:00pm ET January 2 @Green Bay 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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