The 49ers and Cardinals played twice in the first nine weeks last season. This year they won’t meet until Week 11 on Monday Night Football.
Both clubs have put together up-and-down years to this point, but it’s San Francisco that enters the game with a 5-4 record, 1.5 games ahead of the 4-6 Cardinals. It’s a chance for the 49ers to put a nail in a division rival’s coffin, and a chance for the Cardinals to kick the door in on the playoff picture.
So, just how good are the Cardinals this year? We got in touch with the Cards Wire’s Jess Root to get a lay of the land in the desert (lots of cacti FYI) ahead of Monday nights’s showdown in Mexico City.