Niners try to make the best of their temporary home in Arizona
GLENDALE, ARIZ. >> A sound not synonymous with the Arizona desert filled State Farm Stadium on Monday night.
It was the sound of a foghorn, something heard more often over the waters of San Francisco Bay — and a 49ers stadium tradition.
The foghorn blared again when 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk, the rookie from Arizona State University, caught a short touchdown pass for a 7- 0 lead.
The 49ers, with help from their NFC West rival Arizona Cardinals, did what they could to make themselves at home in the Cardinals’ stadium on Monday night against the Buffalo Bills. Forced out of their Levi’s Stadium headquarters by Santa Clara County’s ban on contact sports, the 49ers chose Glendale for their base of
operations and have been in the area since last Wednesday night.
Inside the stadium, red, white and gold 49ers banners adorned the sidelines and end zone. Tarps bearing names of corporate partners and the team’s slogan “Faithful to The Bay” were placed above the long banners, and the scoreboards above the end zones displayed 49ers material.
There were even some fans for the home team. Families of the 49ers’ players and staff had 50-yard line seats.
Still, nothing screamed “2020” more than watching the 49ers run onto the State Farm Stadium turf in Glendale, Ariz., as the home team.
“Fortunately, it’s 2020, and we’re so used to getting pulled every which way,” NIners tackle Trent Williams said when the team pulled up stakes last week. “I think that ultimately helped us just adapt to the situation we’re in right now.”
For the 49ers, it was only the third time in 31 years they’d taken to the road for a home game. One of those was a 2010 game in London.
The other was in 1989, when the 49ers played at Stanford Stadium while Candlestick Park was being retrofitted following the Loma Prieta earthquake.
The 49ers will do it again Sunday when they “host” the Washington Football Team at the Cardinals’ stadium.
They will continue to practice on a field just south of the stadium in preparation for a game at Dallas on Dec. 20.
Then they return to State Farm Stadium for a Dec. 26 game — but as the visiting team against the Cardinals. The Jan. 3 regular-season finale against Seattle, currently scheduled for Levi’s Stadium, also will be played here if the county ban is extended.
How unique was it for an NFL team to play a home game in the stadium of another NFL team? It had happened only four times in the Super Bowl era, which dates to 1970.
Coincidentally, the Bills were the last team to do it. In 2014, they played a home game at Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, because of a severe snowstorm in Buffalo.
• In 2010, the Minnesota Vikings played a home game in Detroit because the roof on their stadium (the Metrodome) collapsed under a heavy snow.
• In 2005, the New Orleans Saints played a home game at Giants Stadium — against the Giants, no less! — because of Hurricane Katrina.
• In 2003, the San Diego Chargers played a home game at Arizona’s Sun Devil Stadium (then home of the Cardinals) because of wild fires in San Diego.