The 49ers were an almost unanimous choice in the Adultfyi pool but came so close to polluting San Francisco bay.

San Francisco- Alex Smith and his San Francisco 49ers looked awful on their home field until the very last minute.

Then Arnaz Battle scored on a 1-yard end-around with 22 seconds to play to cap an 86-yard drive as the 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 20-17, on Monday night.

Smith looked terrible until leading that near-flawless march in the waning moments for the 49ers, who beat the Cardinals for the first time in five tries in Coach Mike Nolan’s tenure. The quarterback finished 15-of-31 for 126 yards, including 60 on the final drive. He also made a key 25-yard scramble on fourth-and-1, and Battle hauled in a gutsy catch at the 1 to set up the decisive score.

“We showed a lot of character, struggling at times, frustrated on offense, but we finished,” Smith said.

Both teams’ high-priced offenses floundered amid the swirling winds in the first game since the field was renamed in honor of Bill Walsh, the Hall of Fame coach who led the team to three Super Bowl titles and who died of leukemia on July 30.

The Cardinals kept the 49ers out of the end zone for 55 straight minutes after a touchdown by Frank Gore, who sat out the entire preseason to heal his broken right hand. But Arizona’s defense finally bent at the end, handing its new coach, Ken Whisenhunt, a typically crushing Cardinals loss in his debut. He was the ninth straight coach to lose his first game with the Cards.

Anquan Boldin caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Matt Leinart with 6 minutes, 40 seconds to play to give Arizona a 17-13 lead.

“We had a chance at the end,” Whisenhunt said. “We hung in there, we fought, but we just didn’t get it done. Just a disappointing loss for our football team.”

On the 49ers’ final scoring drive, Battle caught a pass near the goal line with about 30 seconds left, but Terrence Holt, safety, knocked it out of his hands as he stretched for a touchdown.

The ball dribbled into the end zone, where Eric Green of Arizona misplayed it and Darrell Jackson of the 49ers recovered. Because only the fumbler can recover for his team if the ball goes forward in the final two minutes, it was placed at the 1, and Battle scored the winning touchdown on the next play.

Cincinnati: Bengals 27, Ravens 20; With wounded players shuffling off in waves, what was left of the Cincinnati Bengals rallied for a victory at home.

Steve McNair of the Baltimore Ravens threw an interception to set up Carson Palmer’s fourth-quarter touchdown pass, and Cincinnati’s suspect defense pulled off a goal-line stand to preserve the victory.

“We know it’s going to be a hard-fought game when we play these guys – tough, physical,” Coach Marvin Lewis of the Bengals said. “It’s important to win the physical football games because you put so much into it.”

McNair made four turnovers and left in the fourth quarter after he strained his groin, the last in a nonstop run of injuries for both teams. Kyle Boller took over and led the Ravens to the 1-yard line in the closing seconds.

An offensive pass interference penalty on Todd Heap negated his catch in the end zone, and Boller’s final pass deflected off Heap’s shoulder to lineman Michael Myers, who made a diving interception in the end zone.

The Bengals had to work with a makeshift offensive line that was missing three starters by the second quarter. They also briefly lost kicker Shayne Graham, costing them on an extra-point try.

Even receiver Chad Johnson, a Pro Bowl player, limped off at one point, evidently suffering from a cramp. He came up big for the Bengals, catching five passes for 95 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown.

“I told you I would give you a show,” Johnson said.

Both teams overcame significant injuries to send the game to a frantic finish.

Ed Reed, safety, returned a punt untouched 63 yards for a touchdown that put the Ravens ahead 20-19 early in the fourth quarter and silenced the crowd of 66,093, the second-largest in Paul Brown Stadium’s history. Reed had to return kicks because B.J. Sams had sprained a knee.

The emotional lift didn’t last long. McNair had the most to do with that.

In his second season running the Ravens’ offense, he had one of his worst games. McNair fumbled on a sack, muffed a handoff to running back Willis McGahee, and let the ball slip out of his hand on a pass attempt. Linebacker Landon Johnson caught that fumble in midair and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown.

Despite all that, the Ravens, defending division champs, had a chance to hold the lead and pull out one of those make-or-break games on the road. Instead, McNair let it slip away with his last error.

His high pass deflected off the hands of Derrick Mason, and Robert Geathers made a diving interception that was upheld on review. Two plays later, Palmer threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for the final lead. Cincinnati made the 2-point conversion on Rudi Johnson’s run.

McNair strained his groin on the next series and finished the game 20-of-34 for 203 yards.

Baltimore won the division by five games last season with a defense that gave up the fewest points and yards in the NFL. It was poised to assert itself against the Bengals, who won it in 2005.
‘Catastrophic’ injury to Bill

Kevin Everett received a “catastrophic” and life-threatening spinal-cord injury while trying to make a tackle during the Buffalo Bills’ season opener and is unlikely to walk again, according to the surgeon who operated on him, Dr. Andrew Cappuccino.

Everett, 25, a reserve tight end, was hurt Sunday after he ducked his head while tackling Domenik Hixon of the Denver Broncos during the second-half kickoff. Everett dropped face-first to the ground after his helmet hit Hixon high.

Cappuccino noted that Everett did have touch sensation throughout his body and also showed signs of movement.

Here’s the official Adultfyi standings for Week One:

Tony Batman, Karl the Birdman, John Gray, Sean from Porn Legends: 13-3

Gene Ross, Billy the Crystal, Wankus, Willie D: 12-4

Steve Seidman, Dan Davis, Steve Lane, Sandy Bunz: 11-5

Jack Spade, Mastrick, Mike Dickinson, Serenity: 10-6

Steve Volponi, Indiana Adam, Ryan from Jerry’s Deli: 9-7

Tim Case, Mike Fattorosi, Brian Wallace: 8-8