The Arizona Cardinals were destroyed in front of a national audience in Mexico City, getting thumped, 38-10, by division rival San Francisco on Monday night.
The loss dropped the Cards to 4-7 and marked the fourth game Arizona has lost by 10-plus points.
"We've got to flush it," coach Kliff Kingsbury said after the game. "We've got a short week with the Chargers coming in. So that's what we talked about. We know we've got to play a lot better. Gotta improve in a short time. A lot of mental preparation going into Sunday's game before a bye. So we've got to find a way to get it corrected."
Kingsbury has wanted to flush most weeks. The toilet must still be clogged.
Arizona was outclassed, out-coached, and out-conditioned in the 7,200-foot elevation at Estadio Azteca.
Colt McCoy made his second consecutive start for an injured Kyler Murray, completing 24-of-34 passes for 218 yards and an interception. The veteran got the ball out on time early, but as the night wore on, the Niners adjusted and Arizona, as we've seen throughout Kingsbury's tenure, did not.
"I didn't think that the Niners confused me one time tonight," McCoy said. "I knew what they were doing. They showed me a lot of different looks. And so that's a bummer. Feel pretty good about it, but we just didn't make enough plays."
Greg Dortch (9/103) and DeAndre Hopkins (9/91) were the only offensive players to do much of anything. The Cards' defense got run over every which way, including allowing George Kittle to skate in for a late TD undisturbed.
Monday night's loss was the latest in a dismal season in the desert. The team's four victories have come against the 3-win Raiders, 3-win Panthers, 4-win Saints and 3-win Rams.
The defeat drops Arizona to 5-12 in their past 17 games, including playoffs, after last year's hot start.
Reminder: Kingsbury, GM Steve Keim, and Murray all received extensions in the offseason, tying them to the club at least through 2027. Perhaps ownership would like to flush those deals.
