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.
Time and again, Raye sent Gore straight into the teeth of the Cardinals’ defense, for loss after loss.
“It was one of those games,” Gore said, with a cut on his head but no other noticeable wounds. “They had a great game plan for our type of offense.”
In all, the 49ers ran the ball 25 times for 21 total yards, a 0.8-yard average. Gore carried 22 times and gained 30 yards, with a long gain of 6 yards.
But the 49ers kept at it, kept running and getting stuffed, all the way until the fourth quarter, when they pulled ahead for good by throwing 13 times in a 15-play drive.
What made the 49ers keep running, even as Arizona’s defense waited for the run? Will, resolution and stubbornness.
Afterward, Singletary conceded even the offensive linemen got frustrated, and center Eric Heitmann didn’t deny it.
“It was a great win today, but there’s definitely going to be a lot for us to learn from on that tape,” said Heitmann, an offensive co-captain.
“As much as I’d like to be all positive and say the offense did some good things when we needed to, we’ve still got a long ways to go if we want to be as consistent as we need to be on offense.”
Do you think the Cardinals’ defense was set up to be beat by the pass in the fourth quarter because the 49ers ran so much?
“Yeah,” Heitmann said, shooting a knowing glance at left tackle Joe Staley nearby. “I believe that.”
It was enough on Sunday to beat an Arizona team that had been off-kilter through the preseason and showed no signs of progress against the 49ers.
The 49ers gained only 203 yards — They had one play from scrimmage longer than 20 yards — a 50-yard pass to Isaac Bruce. Enough.
They pounded their heads against the wall, repeatedly, for hours, until they figured out a way to win. Only 15 more games to go, if their bones and brains can last that long.