49ers vs. Cardinals: 5 chilling stats that say everything about Week 9 loss

The 49ers lost ugly in Week 9 to the Cardinals, and these five stats reveal a lot about just how disjointed head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad is right now.

Let’s face it: The San Francisco 49ers are a bad team.

The Niners’ 31-17 Week 9 loss at home to an Arizona Cardinals team that was without quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins because of injuries, subsequently led by veteran journeyman signal-caller Colt McCoy, says more about head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. than it does about any sort of Cardinals resiliency.

Now at 3-5, San Francisco is again looking hard at itself with the realization 2022 is now more important than what remains in the second half of 2021.

Especially frustrating, considering the 49ers do have a quality core of players like tight end George Kittle, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, linebacker Fred Warner, left tackle Trent Williams and EDGE Nick Bosa.

Shanahan wasn’t just outcoached by Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury, Shanahan was completely overmatched.

And these five stats back it up.

No. 5: 49ers get just over 20 minutes of possession time

Yes, Arizona had nearly double the possession time compared to the Niners:

• Cardinals: 36:47
• 49ers: 23:13

Save for a couple of somewhat-lengthy San Francisco offensive possessions, and this would have been the case.

Part of the blame has to reside on defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, of course, as his defense had zero answers for McCoy and running back James Conner, who recorded his first-career three-touchdown game in the effort.

But Shanahan bears a lot of the blame, too, as his offense was nearly at full strength after getting Kittle back from injury. Instead, the 49ers still struggled on third downs, going 4-of-10 in this crucial spot, created more 2nd-and-long plays than they would have liked and struggled with all kinds of turnover issues.

Speaking of the latter…