The Arizona Cardinals get another NFC West test Sunday, and after what happened last week, maybe that’s exactly what they need.

Arizona enters Levi’s Stadium at 1-1 after beating the Chargers 26-14 in Week 1 and getting thoroughly handled by Seattle, 31-7, in Week 2. San Francisco is 2-0. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Arizona time.

There are plenty of ways to preview this game.

Christian McCaffrey. Brock Purdy. Trey McBride. A divisional road game. Mike LaFleur matching wits with Kyle Shanahan.

But let’s start with the 6-foot-4, 266-pound man who won’t be chasing Jacoby Brissett around Sunday afternoon.

Nick Bosa is out

The 49ers have ruled Nick Bosa out with a calf injury. Defensive linemen Romello Height and James Thompson Jr. are also out, as is wide receiver Demarcus Robinson. Mike Evans is questionable.

Nobody should confuse that with San Francisco suddenly becoming harmless.

But if you’re Arizona, you couldn’t ask for a more obvious opportunity to get the offense moving again.

Because last Sunday was ugly.

Arizona produced just 151 total yards against Seattle. Brissett completed 17 of 28 passes for only 95 yards. The Cardinals were tied 7-7 at halftime before Seattle pulled away.

Brissett summed up part of the problem afterward with four words:

“You can’t waste plays.”

Against Seattle, they did.

Second-and-short opportunities went nowhere. Drives disappeared. The Cardinals couldn’t establish enough offensively to force Seattle to adjust to much of anything.

Now one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers has been removed from Sunday’s equation.

If you’re Arizona, you have to do something with that.

Find somebody besides Trey McBride

Through two games, McBride has 17 receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Brissett has thrown for 372 yards. Arizona’s running backs Tyler Allgeier and Jeremiyah Love have combined for 141 rushing yards.

McBride being productive isn’t a problem.

Needing McBride to carry this much of the passing offense might be.

That brings us to Marvin Harrison Jr.

The Cardinals themselves spent this week talking about getting Harrison more involved after the Seattle game. The question isn’t whether Arizona should force-feed him the football just to satisfy a stat sheet. It’s whether this offense can consistently create opportunities for one of its most important weapons.

Because San Francisco knows about McBride too.

If the answer to Arizona’s passing game continues to be find No. 85, defensive coordinators eventually get a vote in that strategy.

Sunday would be a pretty good time for the rest of the offense to introduce itself.

And Arizona has its own injury problems

This isn’t a story about poor San Francisco limping into Sunday while Arizona arrives wrapped in bubble wrap.

The Cardinals’ injury report included defensive lineman Roy Lopez, cornerbacks Max Melton and Garrett Williams, safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson and center Hjalte Froholdt during the week. Brissett was listed with a hip injury but practiced fully Wednesday and Thursday.

That’s particularly worth watching in the secondary.

San Francisco doesn’t need much encouragement to make a defense miserable. Purdy has McCaffrey, George Kittle and a Shanahan offense designed to make defenders choose incorrectly and then spend the next six seconds regretting it.

Arizona can’t afford to help them.

This game tells us something

It’s Week 3. Nobody’s season gets declared dead or destined for glory before October because of one afternoon in Santa Clara.

But this game can tell us something useful about the Cardinals.

Week 1 showed what Arizona can look like when things work.

Week 2 showed what happens when they don’t.

Now comes the response.

The Cardinals don’t need to pretend Seattle never happened. They need to show that Seattle wasn’t a blueprint.

Can Arizona protect Brissett against a San Francisco front missing Bosa?

Can the running game create enough to keep the offense out of obvious passing situations?

Can Harrison become a meaningful part of the offense?

Can the secondary hold together against Purdy and McCaffrey?

And perhaps most importantly: when something goes wrong early, can Arizona keep one bad play from becoming three?

Bosa’s absence doesn’t hand the Cardinals anything.

It simply removes one very large obstacle.

What Arizona does with the space he leaves behind is up to them.