49ers vs. Cardinals: 5 takeaways from dominant Week 11 victory

The San Francisco 49ers finally put it all together, completely demolishing the Arizona Cardinals 38-10 to take over first place in the NFC West.

After a relatively slow start, the San Francisco 49ers took care of business with arguably their best game of the season in a 38-10 demolition job of a hobbled Arizona Cardinals team at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

With the win, the Niners move to 6-4 and take control of the NFC West once again staring down the barrel of a favorable run to the playoffs where five of the seven games will be at home.

And indeed despite this being a “road” game for San Francisco, you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise as the raucous Mexico City crowd was firmly behind the team wearing white.

The game didn’t start as well as 49ers fans would like, as both teams would feel each other out for the first quarter with the Cardinals taking a 3-0 lead into the second. But it was firmly Niners therafter, with 17 points in the second quarter giving the team a 17-10 advantage at halftime with Arizona not looking threatening from then on as the vaunted San Francisco defense clamped down hard.

All of the 49ers’ household-name offensive playmakers got in on the action, as quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had arguably his best game ever as a 49er.

With this win, the Niners have firmly put themselves in the running in a weak NFC this season. The Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings have faltered a bit in recent weeks, contrasting with San Francisco, which just seems to get better and better as it gets healthier.

Let’s look at the key takeaways for this Week 11 game.