There are no moral victories in the NFL, but the San Francisco 49ers defense showed vast improvements in a 19-13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 12.
The outing was markedly better than their meeting with the Cardinals in Week 3, when Arizona scored 33 points against San Francisco's defense (two 49ers pick-sixes accounted for the other 14 to get to the game total of 47 points).
The Cardinals were held to 2.4 yards per carry on Sunday and starting running back Chris Johnson had just 17 yards on 12 carries. Carson Palmer, one of the league’s top MVP candidates, was held to 24-of-40 passing for 271 yards and no touchdowns.