By: Ben Leonard

Follow Ben on Twitter @Ben___Leonard

Although the 49ers have been eliminated from playoff contention for two weeks now, they still have something to play for in their final game. In a disappointing season for the talent-laden Niners, seemingly nothing has gone their way. With a win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, San Francisco would spoil the Cardinals’ hopes for obtaining the NFC’s #1 seed, winning the NFC West, and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. San Francisco has lost four straight games, and a win on Sunday would prove satisfying for more than just their own confidence.

The Niners will certainly be helped by the fact that Arizona will start Logan Thomas, a rookie quarterback out of Virginia Tech on Sunday. Thomas will become the fourth quarterback Arizona will have started this season, after successive injuries to Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton. Third-stringer Ryan Lindley played poorly in a 35-6 drubbing at the hands of the Seahawks on Sunday night, forcing Cardinals’ coach Bruce Arians to move on from Lindley. Thomas’ performance was abysmal in his only action this season, completing just one of eight pass attempts. However, his one attempt did go for eighty-one yards, hitting running back Andre Ellington in a very tight window. There is simply not a large enough sample size to judge Thomas, but in college, he was  more dynamic as a runner than as a passer. He will add another dimension to Arizona’s offense, complicating the job for the Niners’ defense, especially since there is not much NFL film on the signal-caller.

However, on paper, San Francisco should not have a difficult time bottling up the inept Cardinals’ offense, who have struggled on both sides of the ball all season. They especially struggled Sunday against the Seahawks, in that they were only able to rush for twenty-nine yards. Stanford product Stepfan Taylor simply has not been the answer at running back, filling in for the injured Andre Ellington. With the Cardinals’ offense in tatters, San Francisco should be able to key in on Thomas and lock down Arizona’s futile offense. The Niners are fifth in the NFL in passing defense and seventh in rushing defense; Sunday should be nothing different against such a depleted unit.

In their last meeting, Arizona did prevail 23-14, mostly because of the contributions of Stanton, who is now injured. He rallied the Cardinals to scored seventeen unanswered points in the second half, erasing a 14-6 deficit in the process. However, Arizona was a much different football team in September; after starting out 9-1, they have stumbled to win only two of their last five.

The Cardinals’ defense did bottle up Frank Gore and the NFL’s sixth-best rushing attack last time out, yielding just eighty-two yards on the ground. Anchored by outside linebacker Alex Okafor, the Cardinals’ front seven is well-equipped to man-handle the Niners’ weak offensive line. Jonathan Martin simply has not been the answer for San Francisco at tackle, and is just one of many struggling regulars.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick had one of his best games this season in the previous matchup. Kapernick posted a Total QBR of 80.2, throwing for 245 yards while completing twenty-nine of thirty-seven pass attempts. He appeared very comfortable against the Cardinals’ third-worst ranked passing defense. Kaepernick has clearly lost confidence as a result of his recent struggles, guiding the Niners to four straight losses. For this reason, a win would bring confidence for 2015, along with satisfaction in spoiling their division rival’s aspirations.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN and NFL.com

Cover Image: By original: Michael Wifall derivative: Diddykong1130 (Here – have some hand in your face) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons