There's 11:10 left in the third quarter. The San Francisco 49ers just marched down the field on their opening possession of the second half to take a commanding 23-6 lead. ESPN gave the Niners a 98.6% win probability, and the entire Arizona Cardinals fanbase muttered the same phrase:

"Here we go again."

We might be missing some colorful language depending on the setting or where you were watching, though this felt like a similar story unfolding to Week 2's beatdown from the Seattle Seahawks — the game was close before Arizona's opponent broke away in the final two quarters.

The dust is just now beginning to settle in the Cardinals' 36-30 loss at Levi's Stadium in Week 3, one that drops them to 1-2 on the season. Back-to-back NFC West losses now extends their divisional losing streak to eight games, though there's a different feeling as the Cardinals load up the team plane and head back to the desert.

Make no mistake about it, there's no moral victories in the NFL. Arizona's not high-fiving each other after losing — but the Cardinals showed signs of life under first-year head coach Mike LaFleur after being punched in the mouth, something that can't be said for Arizona's effort last week.

"The one thing I'll say about all the phases is they battled. There's no question in my mind that they battled. That's a very good football team that we just played," LaFleur said post-game. The Cardinals scored with under three minutes left to make it a two-point game before being bested.

"There's no moral victories in any of this, like at all. But there's things we can take from this, but we got to move forward. We got to get better. We got to improve the stuff that we're not doing well."

The stuff the Cardinals aren't doing well is a laundry list — though measuring yourself against two legitimate Super Bowl contenders in consecutive weeks will make those evaluations just a bit tougher.

It's a week-to-week league where talent from top to bottom on a roster isn't drastically different. That's why there's credence to the saying "any given Sunday" because it rings true. It takes a true united effort from general managers constructing a roster to coaches scheming talent correctly to the players themselves executing and making plays on their own accord.

That's a melting pot that's still cooking in LaFleur's first season in Arizona, a task that so obviously was going to be a rebuild in his first season. Cardinals fans are tired of hiring new coaches and hitting the reset button, but that's reality.

LaFleur said something in one of his press conferences leading into Sunday that stood out. When speaking on his prior time in San Francisco under Kyle Shanahan, he recalled the process of flipping the 49ers' script in terms of success:

"It took time. I hate to even bring it back because it sucked in real time, but (when I was there) we started 0-9 our first year. Won one, got to 1-9 and then went to 1-10. Then won five in a row to end it and finished 6-10 that first year. It was almost like throwing a parade that we won six games and the next year we go 4-12," he said.

"It took some time from a standard perspective of getting the right people on the bus."

Patience is the name of the game, though that doesn't have to mean fans can't demand a step in the right direction. Arizona's defensive failures and lingering questions on the offensive side of the ball are prominent, and the NFL is correctly referred to as standing for "Not For Long" if you can't find success.

The reality is the Cardinals are 1-2. Week 3 also just completed, and it's a long season.

Maybe — just maybe — there was a sliver of hope in today's loss.