The San Francisco 49ers missed out on their first win streak

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of the season with a disappointing loss to the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. It came down to the wire for coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers http://www.sanfrancisco49ersteamonline.c...ner-jersey , who failed to stop quarterback Eli Manning and the Giants’ offense in the game’s final minutes, falling 27-23 under the lights of Levi’s Stadium.Here’s five takeaways from the 49ers’ eighth loss of the season:Mullens a little less magicalFormer third-string quarterback Nick Mullens set the bar high with one of the greatest debuts in NFL history, tossing three touchdowns and no interceptions in the 49ers’ Week 9 victory over the Raiders. His performance on Monday wasn’t up to those standards, completing 27 of 39 passes for 250 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and quarterback rating of 73.7. Mullens’ second game as the 49ers starter was unspectacular, neither seeming like the winning ingredient of the reason for the loss.Pass rush absentIn Week 9, the 49ers sacked Raiders quarterback Derek Carr eight times and added another nine quarterback hits. They were unable to generate anything close to the same amount of pressure against the Giants, despite a vulnerable offensive line. The defense only managed one sack against Manning, who shredded the 49ers in the fourth-quarter to take the late-game lead and put the game out of reach. It was a disappointing return to reality for a defensive front that showed promise against the Raiders. Fred Warner stands outWarner didn’t light up the stat sheet, with four tackles and two pass breakups officially, but the 49ers’ third-round pick made several plays that kept the game within reach for the 49ers. In the second quarter, Warner met Giants running back Saquon Barkley in the hole on third-and-goal from the three, forcing a Giants field goal. In the third quarter, he tipped a would-be touchdown pass from Giants quarterback Eli Manning to receiver Odell Beckham Jr., again forcing a field goal. To top it off, Warner had two drive-killing pass breakups while covering Beckham Jr. over the middle of the field. A standout night for the 49ers’ rookie.Dante Pettis strugglingThe 49ers’ second-year receiver has gotten off to a slow start since his Week 8 return from knee injury. Dante Pettis has been unable to make any real impact on the 49ers’ passing attack Womens Mike Person Jersey , despite veteran Pierre Gar莽on missing two of the last three games. Against the Giants, on two occasions, Pettis was thrown the ball on third down, and both times he failed to drive upfield and secure the first down, instead opting to make defenders miss unsuccessfully. Both times prompted discussions with Shanahan and receivers coach Mike LaFleur on the sideline.The defense crumbles againWith 8:15 remaining in the third quarter, the defense had held the Giants to just 10 points and given the 49ers a 10-point lead. What was a mostly solid performance until that point was followed by a 17-point collapse, including a nine-play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter resulting in a Manning touchdown pass to receiver Sterling Shepard with less than a minute left in the game. It was a familiar tale of ill-timed penalties and missed assignments that authored the 49ers’ late-game struggles and eighth loss of season.49ers-Cardinals line showing movement with money coming in on Arizona The San Francisco 49ers opened this week as a field goal favorite over the Arizona Cardinals, but the line quickly climbed. It got as high as 5.5 points at some sportsbooks, but eventually settled at four or 4.5 points, depending on your sportsbook of choice. Early money was on the 49ers, but we are seeing some changes with money coming in on Arizona.OddsShark tracks line movement across a host of sportsbooks, and the 49ers-Cardinals line has seen some shifting on Thursday and Friday. You are now able to find some 3.5-point spreads, although some of them have moved back up to four points. OddsShark tracks money bet, and as of this being published, 54 percent of money is on the Cardinals.This is a tough game to figure out for the purposes of gambling. The 49ers would seem to be the better team, but there are two issues with this game. The first is this is a divisional game. Sometimes the worse divisional opponent will get thumped http://www.sanfrancisco49ersteamonline.c...ead-jersey , and other times it will end up a crazy game that goes down to the wire. For Arizona, last week’s 20-17 loss to the Seahawks was an example of the latter, while their 34-0 loss to the Los Angeles Rams was a an example of the former.The other issue is the quarterback situation — and I’m not talking about C.J. Beathard. Josh Rosen got his first career start last week, and did well enough to give the Cardinals a shot at beating Seattle. He is an upgrade over Sam Bradford, and that gives a previously awful Cardinals offense a shot in the arm. But is it enough to spring the road upset?Football Outsiders found Aaron Schatz puts together a weekly column for ESPN’s Chalk section where he offers a potential outright upset and a potential underdog cover. This week, he included the Cardinals as his potential outright upset.Schatz sees a downgraded but still solid Cardinals defense as a big key.On the offensive side of the ball, Schatz emphasized the Cardinals needed to focus on the pass given their run game struggles and the 49ers success defending the run. He said David Johnson should be active as the 49ers give up a lot of short passes in the run game, and Rosen needs to focus on the left when passing.The 49ers are working on a rotation at the cornerback position, so that offensive left side will be something to watch in Week 5.I’m still inclined to think this is a game the 49ers can get the cover, but I can see why there is some hesitancy. Arizona is a better team now than what we saw the first couple weeks. The 49ers are better, but this presents a challenge. Beathard looked solid last week, but it was against an awful Los Angeles Chargers defense. They rank ninth against the run, but 23rd against the pass, according to Football Outsiders. Arizona ranks 11th against the pass and will bring a bigger challenge as we look to see if Beathard has in fact taken a significant step forward in his second season.