The San Francisco 49ers have stumbled out of the gates to start the season, beginning their 2024 campaign with a 2-2 record. The Arizona Cardinals have also not gotten off to as good of a start as they were hoping, sitting at 1-3 through the first four weeks.
The two teams will face each other in an NFC West duel in Week 5 with the winner getting back on track while the loser of the game likely having to take a step back and re-evaluate things moving forward.
Let’s take a look at the latest odds for the game and then I’ll predict the final score for the game.
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
Spread
Moneyline
Total
This game has been one of the few rare matchups this week in which the line hasn’t moved from the opener. The 49ers opened as 7.5-point favorites and that is where the spread has remained. The total has moved up a half a point from 49.5 to 50.
Yes, the Cardinals’ defense is horrific and ranks in the bottom five in just about every metric you want to look at, but I still think their offense is one of the better units in the league, even though they’ve stumbled the past two weeks.
It’s also worth noting that the 49ers’ defense hasn’t been as dominant as we expected them to be heading into this season. For example, they’re just 19th in opponent yards per play, allowing 5.4 yards per snap. They’re also just 18th in opponent Success Rate and 22nd in opponent yards per pass attempt, giving up 7.0 yards per throw.
If the 49ers had better defensive metrics through the first four weeks of the season, I’d lay the points with them, but they haven’t shown me enough to feel confident in them to cover a touchdown spread against an offense as strong as Arizona’s.
If I’m going to take the points with the Cardinals due to the 49ers having a bad defense while also recognizing the Cardinals’ defense has struggled this season, the obvious choice when it comes to the total is to take the over.
Pick: Cardinals 27, 49ers 30
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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