NFL: Don't look for pretty football from Niners

GLENDALE, Ariz. — You want pretty football? Go dig up films of the Bill Walsh 49ers, of the Jerry Rice 49ers, of some other long-faded iteration of this once balletic franchise.

The 2009 Mike Singletary 49ers are not about anything close to ballet, of course.

More like ballast, bone-crushing and long stretches of watching 11 offensive players continue to beat their heads against a wall.

You want pretty football? There was not much of it on display here in the 49ers' crunching 20-16 victory over Arizona to open the 2009 regular season.

Instead, this was a 49ers display of stubbornness, of principle, of trench-to-trench toughness, and yes, of pure proud ugliness in the cause of victory.

They earned every headache-inducing bit of it, and now they only have to keep doing it for 15 or so more weeks.

"I could care less whether it's an ugly game," Singletary said. "It's beautiful for us.

"So I don't really care about all that other stuff, the stats and what it looked like, bombs and long runs"& it wasn't that kind of game."

I don't think it will ever be that type of game for the 2009 49ers. Pass-happy Mike Martz was fired last year, and new offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye is following Singletary's power-offense construct.

But it will not be easy to keep motoring through NFL opponents with so little creativity or room to breathe.

"It's going to be tough," said Frank Gore, who was the crash-test dummy for the 49ers' offensive crashing. "I know it's going to be tough. (But) as long as we keep getting wins, I'll be happy with it."

Those feelings were detectable in the locker room afterward; the 49ers players, who giddily celebrated every weird victory under Mike Nolan, accepted this one as a little but important step on a long, head-banging journey.

They beat the defending NFC champions. They started 2009 on an up note, following the 5-2 finish under Singletary last year.

They played swarming defense against Kurt Warner & Co., they committed only one turnover, and Shaun Hill marched the 49ers down the field for an 80-yard fourth-quarter touchdown precisely when the game was on the line.

But the 49ers also were plodding and predictable on offense for more than three quarters.