Niners, Cardinals Meet in Desert for NFC West Showdown

The San Francisco 49ers have not played very well over their last couple of games, but they still lead the NFC West. San Fran gets a chance to build on that lead when it visits Phoenix to take on the Arizona Cardinals on this week's edition of Monday Night Football (8:30 pm ET, ESPN).

The Niners got off to a 4-1 start this season, with victories over the Packers, Lions and Jets along the way. But San Francisco then looked terrible in losing an NFC championship game rematch at home to the Giants 26-3, getting outrushed 149-80 and turning the ball over three times.

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Four days later, two Thursday nights ago vs. Seattle, the Niners won a very ugly affair, grinding out 175 yards on the ground in beating the Seahawks 13-6.

Arizona, on the other hand, started 4-0 this year, with victories over Seattle, the Patriots, the Eagles and the Dolphins. But the Cardinals have since lost their last three games, scoring a total of 33 points in the process. Arizona fell at St. Louis 17-3, then lost in OT to the Bills 19-16, and last week got beat at Minnesota 21-14.

So San Francisco, at 5-2, leads the NFC West by a game over the 4-3 Cardinals.

These teams have already played three common opponents this season. Both beat Seattle, and both lost to the Vikings. But whereas the Niners pounded Buffalo, Arizona lost to the Bills by a field goal.

These division rivals split their two games last season, each winning on their home fields. In the first game San Fran dominated, outgaining the Cardinals by 200 yards, holding the ball for 44 minutes and picking off Arizona QB John Skelton three times on its way to a 23-7 victory. But in the second game Skelton threw three TD passes to lead the Cardinals to a 21-19 win.

As of Monday morning most NFL books were listing San Francisco as a seven-point road favorite for Monday night's game, with a total of 38.5.

On the season home underdogs on the NFL betting lines have won 20 of 37 games outright, and are 23-14 against the pointspreads.

So far this season the Niners and Cardinals are a combined 3-10-1 on the OVER/UNDERS.