(By Daisy Barringer)

This Sunday the (3-2) 49ers face off against the (3-2) Arizona Cardinals in an NFC West matchup with notable consequences. The Niners must win this game to keep pace with the Seahawks. In an ideal world, Seattle will lose to the Titans (not too likely) and the Niners will be the Cardinals and the Rams will do whatever it is the Rams do. (Although, at 2-3, we can’t discount them, even though I’d like to.)

However, since the Seattle game is out of our hands, the only thing the Niners need to focus on is beating Arizona. A seemingly do-able task as long as the Niners don’t choke. Yes, the Cardinals are also 3-2, which I think most of us are pretty surprised about, but I think the Niners are better in almost every department on and off the field. They just need to play consistently, something they failed to do in the second and third week of the season, but that they seem to have fixed based on the last two Ws.

The Good

On offense, I think we can expect big games from Anquan Boldin, Vernon Davis and Frank Gore. Yes, the Cardinals have LB Daryl Washington back and he will likely make one or two big plays, but I think VD can beat him. And if not VD, perhaps rookie TE Vance McDonald? In addition, I think Kap will connect with Boldin—he kind of has to since he’s not going to have the help of Matt Schaub giving our team the ball every couple of plays—and even though people hype up Patrick Peterson, I think Boldin’s got this one. Lastly, if Greg Roman doesn’t give Gore a lot of touches, he’s an idiot. When Gore gets the balls, the Niners win.

Carson Palmer. Yes, we won’t have the help of Houston QB Matt Schaub to throw us the ball over and over again, but we’ll have the next best thing: Cardinals QB Carson Palmer who is second in NFL interceptions with 9. I LOVE AN INTERCEPTION so I hope to see several. Go Tramaine Brock, who, by the way, was the NFC Defensive Player of the Week.

The Cardinals running game. And by that I mean WHAT running game? We’ll shut it down—which shouldn’t be hard—and they’ll be forced to air it out. We just need to protect against the pass.

Home field advantage. It’s a thing and it matters.

The Bad

It’s no secret that Kaepernick didn’t have stellar numbers last week. For sure, part of it is that he just doesn’t have that many guys to throw to, but he’s also just been a bit…uninspired. There’s no time for that this week. Kap must come out hot. MUST. We all know he can do it. He just needs to remember that he knows he can do it.

I just said that Gore needs to run the ball and I mean it, BUT let’s not forget that the Cardinals defense is No. 3 against the run and they’ve only allowed one rushing TD all season. All that means is that the Niners need to air the ball out early and often, get points on the board, take a lead, and then let the run game and our D take it from there.

Larry Fitzgerald. Ugh. What is there even to say? The guy is a force with which to be reckoned. The Cardinals suck on the ground, so clearly they’re going to throw to Fitzgerald again and again and again. The Niners D needs to take him out of the equation as best they can and force Carson Palmer to throw elsewhere. We’re 100% equipped to do this. We just need to execute.

Injuries. The good news is that Ray McDonald’s injury wasn't as bad as everyone thought it might be. Or to use Harbaugh’s favorite phrase: “We dodged a bullet.” However, Patrick Willis is still injured (groin) and his status is unknown and, of course, Aldon Smith is still in rehab, now with felony gun charges against him! Yay. Justin Smith also sat out of practice on Wednesday and Kaepernick mysteriously showed up on the injury report (foot) with no explanation. Luckily, we’ll be OK. Because we’re the Niners and even our backups are awesome. (Except in the QB position which terrifies me on a daily basis.)

The Rest of It

Guess QB John Skelton wasn’t all Harbaugh hoped he would be. The Niners released him and claimed former Vikings QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson, whose name, I think, is a good case as to why one should never hyphenate. Or name their kid McLeod.

As mentioned previously, Aldon Smith is now facing three felony counts of illegal possession of assault weapons. Smith bought the guns in Arizona and brought them back to California, where the semi-automatic rifles are illegal. There’s a lot of talk about how the DA is piling on the charges so that he’ll get a favorable plea bargain. Whatever the case, I hope this all goes away quickly and as quietly as possible. We’re doing OK without Aldon, but he’s fun to watch and he’s a good guy to have on your side.

The Niners must win this game. No one thought that this would be one of the most important games of our season so far, but it is. And that’s all there is to it.

Watch SAN FRANCISCO vs. Arizona on FOX at 1:25 p.m. PDT.