Arizona Cardinals: What to Know about the San Francisco 49ers
The Arizona Cardinals look to gain ground in the NFC West division and make it eight straight losses for Chip Kelly and the San Francisco 49ers.
With the Arizona Cardinals fresh off a bye-week, the time is now to begin the hunt for the playoffs.
The San Francisco 49ers come to town, looking to avoid another loss to the Cardinals. The two teams met in Week 5, with the Cardinals winning 33-21.
The 49ers should not pose much of a threat to the Cardinals, even though this season hasn’t gone as planned. The Niners are 1-7, and owners of a seven-game losing streak. Their only win this season came against the Los Angeles Rams in Week One.
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The 49ers finished last season at 5-11, and really had no major expectations coming into this season. In Chip Kelly’s first season as San Francisco’s head coach, his defense has allowed 37 points per game since their shutout in the season opener. They have allowed over 40 points in two of the last three contests.
And to go along with a horrid defense, the 49ers are a mess at the quarterback position.
Blaine Gabbert started the first five weeks of the season, but has since been benched in favor of Colin Kaepernick. Gabbert threw for 890 yards and found the end zone five times, but has been intercepted six times. As the starter, his Niners were 1-4 over the first five weeks of the season. San Francisco needed a change at quarterback, and rightfully so.
So, in came Kaepernick. The 29-year old received more attention from the media than a backup normally gets, due to kneeling during the National Anthem. Kaepernick sparked a nation-wide protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Once again, I’m not anti-American. I love America. I love people. That’s why I’m doing this. I want to help make America better. I think having these conversations helps everybody have a better understanding of where everybody is coming from,” said Kaepernick.
Since taking over the starter role in Week 6, Kaepernick is only completing 52% of his passes. He’s thrown for 728 yards in 102 attempts, while tossing four touchdowns. He’s racked up 173 yards on the ground in 22 tries, which makes a duel-threat quarterback like Kaepernick so dangerous to opposing defenses. Still, the Niners are yet to record a win this season with Kaepernick starting over Gabbert.
With the Seattle Seahawks on the road against the New England Patriots, the Cardinals have a good shot to make up ground in their NFC West division. The Seahawks currently hold a two-game lead over the Cardinals.
The Cardinals look to get back into the win column for the first time in nearly a month. Their last win came against the New York Jets, 28-3, on October 17.
Against this Niners team, the Cardinals should have no problem making it eight straight losses for Chip Kelly’s squad.