The Arizona Cardinals faced an uphill battle on Sunday, coming in with numerous injuries against the San Francisco 49ers, and the 49ers took advantage.
San Francisco got their playmakers the ball and let them go to work.
The 49ers took an early 13-0 lead, and after the Cardinals responded with a touchdown, the 49ers cruised from there. Quarterback Brock Purdy looked strong returning from injury, and running back Christian McCaffrey and tight end George Kittle led the way on offense.
What Went Wrong For the Cardinals?
It was another rough outing for the Cardinals, falling behind early and never being able to recover. Arizona showed fight and some resilience once again, but couldn’t get out of its own way. Here are three things that went wrong for the Cardinals against the 49ers.
1) Penalties Killed the Cardinals
The Cardinals committed a franchise-record 17 penalties on Sunday afternoon against the 49ers, and could never get out of their own way.
Arizona had 17 penalties for 130 yards in the game. Every time the Cardinals would get some positive momentum going, they’d shoot themselves in the foot. To make matters worse, the 49ers committed just one penalty for 15 yards.
Arizona had multiple penalties that forced them into second and third-and-long situations, and multiple flags inside the red zone to stall drives.
The worst one came on the Cardinals’ first drive of the second half. Arizona had a long rushing touchdown that was called back by a holding penalty.
Bam Knight scores 60-yard TD on 4th-and-inches but Cardinals blow it with a holding penaltypic.twitter.com/qcgR0BOZE7
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) November 16, 2025
That touchdown would have made it a one-possession game. Instead, the Cardinals had to punt, and the 49ers drove down the field to add onto their lead.
The Cardinals entered Sunday having committed the 12th fewest penalties on the year. However, Sunday was a completely different story.
2) Turnovers Bit the Birds Again
The Cardinals had multiple turnovers in the game for the second straight week. Last week, it was two fumbles, and this week, it was two interceptions and a fumble.
Arizona entered the game with the 10th-least turnovers in the NFL, according to PFSN’s Offense Impact. However, for a second straight week, it was turnovers that killed the Cardinals.
Brissett threw two interceptions on Sunday, after throwing just one in his first four starts. The Cardinals quarterback was ranked No. 1 in the NFL, according to PFSN’s QB Impact, with just that single interception entering the week.
However, against the 49ers, Brissett began to force a couple of throws and paid the price.
Brissett’s first interception came near the end of the first half as the Cardinals were approaching field goal range.
Then, the Cardinals were driving in the third quarter, down 18 points and inside the 49ers’ 30-yard line, and Brissett threw his second interception. The Cardinals quarterback tried to force the ball into his tight end while he was escaping pressure.
On the Cardinals’ very next drive, Arizona was driving to score when tight end Elijah Higgins fumbled as he pushed for the goal line.
Arizona’s offense was able to move the ball on offense throughout the game, but the turnovers halted any momentum and left the Cardinals searching for answers in another large deficit.
3) 49ers Stars Showed Out
Sunday was the first game Purdy played in seven weeks, and it was just his third start of the season.
However, the 49ers quarterback didn’t show many signs of rust, and his paymakers showed up.
Purdy finished the game 19/26 for 200 yards and three touchdowns. McCaffrey and Kittle played like the stars they are as well.
The 49ers’ star tight end had six catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns, and McCaffrey had 81 rushing yards to go with five catches for 40 yards and three total touchdowns.
McCaffrey accounted for 121 total yards and three touchdowns, and the 49ers duo accounted for 107 of Purdy’s 200 passing yards and all three touchdowns.
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It was Purdy’s first game this season with three touchdown passes and his first game with zero interceptions. It was Kittle’s first two-touchdown game of the year and McCaffrey’s first hat trick of the season.
The Cardinals came into the game beat up on defense, and the 49ers didn’t have to do anything crazy. San Francisco simply got the ball to their playmakers and cruised to a victory on Sunday afternoon in Arizona.
