SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Mike Singletary spent all offseason talking about how his San Francisco 49ers needed to rely on a powerful running game to find success.
That’s what made the result of their opener so strange: The Niners couldn’t do anything on the ground yet somehow, found a way to beat the reigning NFC champion Arizona Cardinals 20-16.

“We’re going to do whatever we have to do to make sure that our identity is intact,” Singletary said Monday. “We want to run the football when we need to run the football.”
San Francisco managed just 21 total yards on 25 carries, the fewest yards rushing in a victory in franchise history and third-lowest total ever by the team.
“Offensively, if you were to draw it up and say that we were going to get 30 yards rushing and try to find a way to win the football game, I find it hard to do,” Singletary said. “That’s kind of what we ended up doing. One of the things that really helped us was we did not turn over the football. We didn’t have penalties on offense. ... They really did it when they had to do it and that’s the sign of something special. That’s something we can build on on offense.”
The previous low had been 34 yards, in a victory over Green Bay in 1990 and then again in Mike Nolan’s debut as coach in 2005 against St. Louis.
In fact, the Niners have had only two lower rushing outputs in their first 59 seasons — 5 yards in a loss to Houston in 1975 and 12 in a 1969 defeat to Minnesota.
Singletary was disappointed in the play of his offensive line, which he knows will have to be more reliable when the 49ers host the Seattle Seahawks come Sunday at Candlestick Park.
Veteran Tony Pashos, signed to a one-year contract earlier this month following his release by Jacksonville, probably will get some work at right tackle with the No. 1 offense this week, splitting snaps with Adam Snyder.
Both Snyder and left guard David Baas struggled Sunday after missing time during training camp with injuries, but Singletary isn’t about to offer any excuses for the poor play. This is Singletary’s first full season as coach after taking over for the fired Mike Nolan in late October last year.
“I don’t think anybody was as sharp as we wanted them to be in this game,” Singletary said. “Yes it was indeed an ugly game. But it was beautiful to see our guys continue to fight, persevere, work through the adversity, work through the issues, work through the noise, work through all this stuff and come out with a win. The biggest thing we did is we stayed together. We hung together, we fought together and we ended up winning together.”
Star running back Frank Gore had 30 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown and caught the 3-yard TD pass from Shaun Hill in the fourth quarter that helped seal the victory.
“They had a great game plan for our type of offense,” Gore said. “But I’m happy we got the W. We kept going. We kept fighting. We made plays here and there and we won.”
In that fourth-quarter scoring drive, 13 of the 15 plays were passes — but don’t expect that to be the norm in Singletary’s system.
“We know we can run the ball. It’s a matter of executing, a matter of getting the calls,” Singletary said.
He praised his defense for being “relentless.”
Defensive end Justin Smith made the game-ending sack on Kurt Warner and pumped both arms in delight, then received a congratulatory hug from left tackle Joe Staley.
Proud defensive coordinator Greg Manusky beamed.
“It really doesn’t matter what anybody does in the NFL last year,” Smith said. “Teams change so much. It’s a division rival. You’ve got to win your division if you want to play later in the year, and we’re 1-0 in our division.”
NOTES: The Niners came out of the game “pretty much injury-free with the exception of the bumps and bruises with the physicality of the game,” Singletary said. “For the most part, no one that has to be concerned about not playing this week. So we’re good in that area.” ... WR Brandon Jones, sidelined since early in camp with a broken shoulder, is scheduled to return to practice and could be ready by Sunday. “There’s a good chance of getting him back,” Singletary said.