Five fumbles plagued the Arizona Cardinals offense last night, in a loss to the now 6-7 San Francisco 49ers. It was a painful pill to swallow, and after hearing some of the praise the media(ESPN to be exact) was giving the Cardinals, this one hurt.

Ball security has been a problem at this point in the season as the Cardinals have fumbled the ball a league-leading 15 times. Tim Hightower- who had 2 fumbles in all of 2008(both were recovered by the Cardinals) - has a team-high 5 fumbles on the year.  Four of the five have been lost, and all of them happened in the 1st quarter. Beanie Wells is a not-far second, with 4 fumbles, and only 2 being lost(Wells lost two fumbles against the Rams and Titans, but they were credited to Warner and Leinart). Wells fumble also came at a critical time when the Cardinals were driving at their 11 yard line.

"It was definitely hard, knowing they were counting on me, giving me the ball in crunch time, and I came up short," Wells said. "I felt I had the ball as tight as I could but it was a hell of a play. You try to (move past it), but at times like this you can’t ignore it, you have to really focus on it," Wells said. "It all comes down to focus on that ball. Obviously I felt I had it as tight as I could but something wasn’t good enough."

Last night should have been proof enough that the Arizona Cardinals are clearly not a team that can overcome turnovers. In their 5 losses this year, the Cardinals have an astonishing -13 turnover differential. Ken Whisenhunt faced the same issues last season when the Cardinals couldn't clinch the division at first opportunity. With the Detroit Lions(2-10) up next, the Cardinals can still clinch the division with a win and a 49ers loss at Philadelphia next week.

"We’ve worked on it earlier in the year and it hasn’t been as much of a problem," coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "Each one of our backs had a fumble and that’s certainly unacceptable, so we will have to work on how they are carrying the football. We just can’t do that."

Unacceptable might be an understatement. What are your thoughts and how can the Cardinals solve this problem? Who gets the start at running back next week?

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

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There's not much to say other then the fact that the Arizona Cardinals never showed up to play Monday night. It's clear they were looking past the 49ers and San Francisco came in hungry for a win. The Cardinals appeared flat, starting the game defensively with three penalties. Darnell Dockett forced an early interception but the Cardinals offense couldn't get moving. The real story of the game was ball protection. The Cardinals fumbled the ball 5 times while Kurt Warner threw 2 interceptions. I'll make this qucik, so here are some game notes:

The Positives:

- There weren't many. Beanie Wells took over for Tim Hightower and had mild success running the ball, even scoring the Cardinals only touchdown. But he too, could not hang onto the ball.

- The defense had problems but easily kept the Cardinals offense in the game and gave them every chance to catch up. They came within a score at one point.

- Aside from Michael Crabtree's touchdown, the Cardinals defensive backs limited Alex Smith and the 49ers passing attack. Adrian Wilson had another interception to add to his career total at 21.

That's it, really.

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Arizona Cardinals	San Francisco 49ers
8-4	5-7
Time: 8:30 PM ET	TV: ESPN
Weather: 50°F, 20% Rain	Sirius:713(Directv)
Location: San Francisco, CA	Online: NFL.com
Stadium: Candlestick Park	Since '01: 7-8
Favorite: Cardinals	SBNation: Niners Nation

Cardinals vs 49ers coverage

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More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

The Cardinals defense has turned up the heat during national prime-time games.

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The Cardinals have been impressive in their last two prime-time games, and for the second week in a row the nation will be watching them in their match up with the San Francisco 49ers.  Do they have something to prove? Maybe. After a gut-wrenching loss to the 49ers week 1, many players are ready for redemption.  With the recent struggles in the NFC West tonight's game should be proof that the Cardinals are not just a product of the division.

A Cardinals win tonight would not only lock up a division title for the second year in a row, but it would also provide a sense of relief.  Losing two games to a division rival in one year is hard enough, and if the Cardinals want to establish themselves as one of the Super Bowl contenders this year, this is a game they should win.

This is a team that has seemingly played better in front of the nation beginning with their improbable playoff run to the Super Bowl last season, and their last two Sunday night games this year. They did struggle in week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts in a Sunday night game, but the Colts are also 13-0 and 12 other teams have fallen at the hands of Peyton Manning.  As you can see, the Cardinals have been more balanced in two of their wins on national TV, and also have a +3 turnover differential.

Winning three games when the nation is watching pads the recognition this team is striving for, but also sends a warning to the other top NFC - the Cardinals are for real.

Tonight however, is only the beginning.

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More photos » by Matt York - AP

The San Francisco 49ers were hoping to challenge the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC West division title this year. They made it interesting a week ago but seem to be heading for another early off season.

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I recently talked with lead blogger Fooch from Niners Nation, who was able to answer five questions I had for him about the Cardinals match up with the 49ers tonight on Monday night football. Thank you to Fooch for taking the time and delivering some detailed answers.

1. RotB: The 49ers looked to be the team that would challenge the Cardinals for the division this year, especially after starting 3-1. Up until last week, many 49er fans thought the team had a chance and this Monday would've been for the division. Obviously that didn't happen so what's the biggest reason for the fall of the 49ers this year and how have they managed to lose 7 games?

NN: There are a variety of reasons for the 49ers mid-season stumble.  The offensive line has been rather abysmal at times, although it's shown some signs of righting the ship recently.  The defense for the most part has been a bit inconsistent, particularly in the pass rush and the secondary.  However, the biggest reason is the play-calling and/or execution of the offense.  The play-calling is an issue because the team has struggled to find its identity.  They were going to be a smash-mouth team, but now they're going with a lot of shotgun offense.

While I don't blame Jimmy Raye for everything, his biggest problem has been his use of extremes.  First the team was running 3 plays and a cloud of dust.  Then the team was running 80% of its plays out of the shotgun.  The team has needed to figure out a way to pass the ball and run the ball with consistency, even if it won't be a 50/50 split.

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On their respective blogs, free safety Antrel Rolle and cornerback Bryant McFadden talk about the upcoming game against the San Francisco 49ers. Rolle's first up as he talks about the loss to the Titans(which he admits he almost had 3 picks on the last drive), the victory against the Vikings, and the game against the 49ers on Monday night: 

In week 1 we lost a game to the 49ers that we feel we should have won, so it will be important to go into SF and take this one. They lost a tough game last week, but they are not a team that is gonna lay down for us. It will be a fight like it always is against them. The fact that it's a Monday night game adds a little flavor because you know everybody is watching you, but we have to treat it like just another game.

Bryant talks about the Vikings game, concluding that the Cardinals offense is unbelievable when they are completely healthy and that Steve Breaston would be a #1 receiver on any other team - I agree. He also discusses the match up with the 49ers and that he is new to the rivalry, and doesn't even know how it started:

We know that their offense is more complete than it was back in week 1, so we will have to make sure we are ready for whatever it is they're going to do. It seems like we played them forever ago so we need to become familiar with their new style. I am new to this rivalry this year so I don't really know how it started or anything like that, but people told me before the first game that I needed to be ready for a physical game and that's what we got. I know they're not too fond of us and I expect the same type of game come Monday.

The Cardinals face the 49ers next Monday night on ESPN.

Your caption here.

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Hope everyone is starting off the weekend good, as it's that time to caption a pic from our very own Cardinals game, in which they beat the Vikings on Sunday night. Before I move on, congratulations to Drullin'OverDaCards for winning last week's caption of Raiders owner Al Davis, "Darrius Heyward-Bey stole my eyepatch and no one can catch him! I told you he was a great pick! (long pause) Oh, he dropped it." Drullin passes up AJ for first place and now has won 3 weeks of Caption This. As you can see, this week's pic comes from the stands as even Santa Clause had to see the Cardinals victory. Also, anyone who hasn't received a vote for a while will slowly get pushed off the list because it's getting too long. Remember to rec a caption, that way we get a good amount of votes. As always, fabricate something clever and vote (click on "actions" and click on "rec") the captions that give you a chuckle.

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More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

Expect to see a lot of Nine-O on Monday night. He's already twittered that he's fired up for the game.

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The Arizona Cardinals (8-4) take their 5-1 road record to San Francisco to take on the 49ers (5-7) on Monday night. Both teams regularly keep the games close when they play each other, with 7 of the last 8 games being decided within 7 points, and the only game more was the season opener last year (the Cardinals won by 10 but the game was decided at the end).

This year, after a 1-2 start , the Cardinals are 7-2 since and have shown an obvious improvement on offense since the Cardinals lost to the 49ers in the opening week. The Cardinals road success has been a surprise, as they've outscored opponents with an average score 26.8 - 15.1. At home, they're average score  is 22.6 - 23.8.

The 49ers have experience the opposite season as the Cardinals. Since they began the season 3-1, they've dropped 6 of the last 8 games. They are currently 4-2 at home, outscoring opponents with an average score of 20.8 - 16.3. They also have had success against quarterbacks at home, holding them to an average rating of  75.24. Luckily, Kurt Warner's average QB rating on the road is 116.8. Let's take a look at five keys to Cardinals success on Monday night.

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More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

Adding Patrick Willis to the Cardinals would bring more leadership and vastly improve the Cardinals run-defense.

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With the Monday night match up not far ahead, we can start preparing to face the San Francisco 49ers. It may sound difficult to want any players from a division rival on the Arizona Cardinals, but in all honesty, the 49ers are filled with talent. Their 5-7 record may not show it, but the 49ers have one of the best defenses in the league and are starting to gel on offense. Remember that who you pick can be a young or older player, a starter or a back up, etc. You can also take their current contract status into consideration, as if we were actually signing the player. Also look at who may be leaving our team after this season. Here are some of my picks. 

Before you look over the list, head over to Niners Nation to check out who they have interest in taking from our very own Cardinals and make sure to voice your opinion if you feel they're overlooking some certain players.

Patrick Willis, LB: This had to be the easiest/most obvious pick from the 49ers. He's a tackling machine(123 tackles leads the league) and has really developed to be one of the best linebackers in the league. Willis is a smart defender that can play the run(as their 5th ranked 95.4 rushing yards per game shows), and he's improving in coverage(6 PD, 2 INT). The former rookie of the year is only 24 years old, and with the uncertainty of Karlos Dansby returning next season, adding Willis would fill a tremendous need.

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