Pineiro's last-second field goal lifts 49ers to thrilling 16-15 win over Cardinals

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers had lost another star to an injury, given up a fourth-quarter lead on a safety and were relying on a backup quarterback and a brand new kicker to maintain their perfect start to the season.

Mac Jones and Eddy Pineiro delivered.

Jones calmly moved San Francisco down the field in the closing minutes to set up Pineiro's 35-yard field goal on the final play that gave the 49ers a 16-15 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

“I failed a lot in that situation, to be honest, in the NFL,” said Jones, who was just 3-17 in his career in comeback chances before this win. “I just knew the guys had my back and like we talked about on the sidelines, go out there and rip it.”

Jones did just that and San Francisco (3-0) was able to overcome an injury to Nick Bosa and the absence of starting quarterback Brock Purdy to eke out the win.

Rookie Upton Stout broke up a pass to Zay Jones on third down after the safety to force a punt by Arizona (2-1) and give the Niners offense an opportunity.

“That was it right there,” linebacker Fred Warner said. "We knew that if we didn’t get off the field on that drive that the game would probably pretty much be sealed. Upton Stout came up with a huge, big-time play there to give our offense a chance."

Jones took over at his 20 with 1:46 to play and completed five passes for 59 yards to get the Niners in position for the winning kick. Pineiro, who was signed after Jake Moody missed two field goals in the opener, calmly delivered to set off a celebration.

“I was sitting on a couch three weeks ago watching the first game of the season and now I'm here,” Pineiro said. “It's a blessing.”

The Cardinals had taken the lead when Calais Campbell forced a holding penalty in the end zone by Dominick Puni for the first tiebreaking safety in the fourth quarter in nearly 11 years, but couldn't close it out.

“Having the lead at the end of the game is always what you want,” Campbell said. “In this business, everything comes down to that last drive. We’ve got to find a way to get off the field there.”

After both teams were held to just a pair of field goals in the first three quarters, they traded 1-yard TD passes in the fourth with Jones giving San Francisco the lead with his pass to Kyle Juszczyk and Kyler Murray tying it at 13 with 8:37 to play with a TD pass to Trey McBride.

Both teams missed good chances to get in the end zone in the third quarter. Emari Demercado dropped a third-down pass near the goal line, forcing Arizona to settle for a field goal that tied it at 6.

The Niners responded and drove down the field, but Christian McCaffrey got stopped for no gain on third down from the 1 and Jones' pass to McCaffrey on fourth down was broken up by Mack Wilson.

But ultimately that wasn't enough for the Cardinals.

“The defense did enough for us to win the game and we didn’t finish the job,” Murray said. “Myself included, we just have to be better. When you’re playing better teams, playing better opponents, you can’t afford to let those happen.”

Cardinals: Running back James Conner was carted off the field in the third quarter with what looked like a significant ankle injury. Coach Jonathan Gannon had no update on the severity of the injury.

49ers: Bosa left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury and didn't return. Coach Kyle Shanahan said initial tests did not show a torn ACL, but the team needed to wait for more tests to be sure and learn the severity.

"We are concerned with that and keeping our fingers crossed for the MRI,” Shanahan said.

Cardinals: Host Seattle on Thursday night.

49ers: Host Jacksonville on Sunday.

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