The Arizona Cardinals entered Week 14 with the possibility of both being eliminated from contention for the NFC West division title and from playoff contention.
Even before the Cardinals play Monday night, their only mathematical hopes were crushed.
The San Francisco 49ers picked up their ninth win of the season, improving to 9-4 with a 35-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With the win, the Cardinals now have no chance of winning the NFC West, even by winning out.
The Cardinals, 4-8, can finish no better than 9-8. The 49ers, if they lose the remaining four games on their schedule, would be 9-8 and, with a guaranteed better division record than the Cardinals (the Niners are 4-0 in the division compared to Arizona’s 1-4 mark), even if the Cardinals won out and the Niners lost out, the tiebreaker would go to the 49ers.
The 49ers now have a two-game lead in the division over the Seattle Seahawks, who are 7-6 following their 30-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
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