SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Arizona Cardinals spent the past week picking up the pieces from their blowout loss to the Washington Commanders and on Sunday in Levi's Stadium, in grueling heat, they looked whole again in a 24-23 comeback win over an NFC West rival, the San Francisco 49ers.
The Cardinals needed a 35-yard field goal from kicker Chad Ryland, who was signed Wednesday with Matt Prater dealing with knee soreness, with 1:37 left in the game for the decisive points. That put the finishing touches on an emotional and focused week that finished the Cardinals at 2-3 but 2-0 in the division.
"This league is really hard and I was frustrated with just the way we were playing first half," quarterback Kyler Murray said. "I felt like we were moving the ball well and the interception, we get the block field goal. I feel like the score didn't represent how well we were moving the ball and the way we were playing.
"When I said, 'This league is hard,' the margin for error is very tight and I feel like we were not necessarily giving the game away, but we just weren't capitalizing on the opportunities we had when we got down there and putting the ball in the end zone. So that was, that was frustrating. But for us to fight back, battle back and end up winning this game on the road against a great team is huge."
The Cardinals made a statement on their first offensive possession when Murray broke a 50-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage. When Murray hit the 44-yard line, he pointed, knowing there was nothing but green grass between him and the end zone.
"Once [tight end Elijah Higgins] got that block and I cleared the two dudes, I was gone," Murray said. "It is not many times you get do that in the NFL, but to be able to finally hit a long run was good. It was fun."
From there, the Cardinals' scoring went stagnant. Running back James Conner had just 9 yards on six carries at halftime before finishing with 86. The passing game was finding a rhythm but not the end zone. Arizona scored just six more points -- two field goals by Ryland -- until early in the fourth quarter.
That's when Arizona marched 73 yards in 6:27, ending the drive with a touchdown pass from Murray to Higgins that brought the Cardinals within 23-21.
Marvin Harrison Jr. wasn't much of a factor until late in the fourth when he caught a game-changing first down. Until then, he had just one reception for 22 yards on six targets, his most recent one coming at the 14:17 mark of the third quarter. Then, with 2:49 left in the game, on fourth-and-5 from the Cardinals' 40, Murray went back to Harrison for what coach Jonathan Gannon called a "got to have it" play.
A miss on the play and Arizona would have handed the ball back to San Francisco to run out the clock. But, with pressure in his face, Murray hit Harrison on the left side of the field for a 14-yard gain to move Arizona inside San Francisco territory. Harrison finished with two catches for 36 yards.
"Again, we'll be better," Murray said. "He's young. This is our fifth game together; we'll get it down. I'm not worried about it at all, but that just goes to show you the confidence and the trust. Fourth down, who am I going to? One-on-one on Marv, I trust Marv to go win, and I trust all the guys to go win but that was huge. That was huge, I think, for his confidence and for us to right there keep the chains moving."
Murray took off on the next play for 13 yards and then Conner had 10 on the following play. At the two-minute warning, Arizona had the ball at the Niners' 23. Four plays later, Ryland hit a 35-yard field goal to give Arizona the lead.
"They were going nuts in the locker room [for Ryland]," Gannon said after the game. "... Half the guys don't even know him."
San Francisco got the ball back at its own 27 with 92 seconds left. Murray, on the sideline, couldn't bear to watch.
"I hated it. I hated it," Murray said. "Yeah, I hated it, honestly. I didn't want to give them the ball back. I didn't. I was hoping we could convert and end the game on our terms. That didn't happen.
"That goes down to trusting the guys. Trusting that they're going to make a play, playing complementary football. They had our back all game."
Indeed, they did. Despite giving up 384 yards, San Francisco blocking a field goal in the second quarter and returning it for a touchdown to go up 20-10 and 49ers linebacker Nick Bosa picking off Murray on a screen pass on the following drive, the Cardinals' defense didn't back down. It held San Francisco four times at the 10-yard line or closer, giving up three field goals and recovering a fumble instead of potentially surrendering four touchdowns.
It was a sign of resilience, Gannon said.
"We knew they were going to move it, though," he said. "That's a good offense, man. They were top in the league and to be able to keep points off the board there was huge.
"I'm proud of how they battled, man. I really am."
The forced fumble, and ensuing recovery, was one of three turnovers for the defense. Another came on the 49ers' final drive that sealed the game. On first-and-10 at the San Francisco 42, safety Jalen Thompson blitzed untouched and hit Niners quarterback Brock Purdy as he threw, which led to the ball popping up in the air. Linebacker Kyzir White came down with it and sealed a second half in which Arizona shut out the 49ers, vaulting it to second place in the NFC West while helping put last week's showing to bed.
"They were fired up," Gannon said. "They know it's a good football team. And last week was not a good performance by us and that they took that some type of way. But, again, that's why I was convicted. You obviously never want to look in the past right now. I don't want to talk about that, but going into that week, we hung together. We took the arrow in the forehead, and we put all our energy and focus into San Fran. That's what we did.
"We had a really good week of practice. Our captains stepped up. Leadership, I thought this week, was huge. All four of those guys. [Wide receiver Greg] Dortch was instrumental this week with energy and focus. That's why he was a game captain. He's practicing his ass off.
"But we got a lot of good guys in our locker room and the response was correct," he said. "Now, we gotta learn from it and move on to the next one because we're going to play a really good football team in Green Bay."