Week 13: San Francisco at Carolina

San Francisco finally broke a lengthy losing streak last week. Carolina will try again this week to break its own.

The 49ers, after a two-month, eight-game drought, finally got a victory with a 37-31 overtime win over Arizona Sunday. Every member of the 49ers got a game ball, as the team scored more points in that win than they did in all of October.

The 49ers finally seemed to be in sync in that game and now have a winnable game against Carolina coming up. RB Frank Gore broke out of a season-long slump with 116 yards rushing and 98 receiving. The 49ers forced four turnovers that led to 20 points. And rookie LB Patrick Willis was credited with 18 tackles Sunday despite playing his third game with a cast on his broken right hand. The 49ers’ players got a rare Monday off as a reward after their first win since mid-September.

Head coach Mike Nolan’s job is still in question. Co-owner Denise DeBartolo York is still apparently considering hiring a general manager to help Nolan with player evaluation (something Nolan would resist). But at least the dark cloud lifted for a week around the Bay Area.

For coach John Fox’s sake, the Panthers better win this one. If they don’t, their current five-game losing streak is in serious jeopardy of doubling to 10. Once 4-2, the Panthers have lost five in a row. “We’re just not a very good football team right now,” Fox said.

Panthers owner Jerry Richardson isn’t a patient man. Twice before the Panthers have had seasons worse than 7-9, and in both cases Richardson fired the current coach (Dom Capers in 1998 and George Seifert in 2001). San Francisco is by far the easiest team left on Carolina’s schedule. The four after that are Jacksonville, Seattle, Dallas and Tampa – all likely headed for the playoffs.

Fox has gotten a horrible performance from backup QB David Carr, his handpicked successor to Jake Delhomme in case of injury (Delhomme went out for the season in Week 3). He hopes to go with Vinny Testaverde again this Sunday. Testaverde was supposed to start last week in Carolina’s 31-6 loss to New Orleans, but his back suddenly tightened up on him and he couldn’t go. Hey, that happens when you’re 44.

The Panthers haven’t won a home game for slightly over a calendar year, and they had 20,000 no-shows last week in Bank of America Stadium. This is a critical game for them because it’s a winnable one; of course, the 49ers feel that way, too.

San Francisco by 5