The Green Bay Packers are headed to Levi’s Stadium to take on the San Francisco 49ers in a primetime Sunday night matchup between two of the best and more surprising teams in the NFL this season. When I say surprising, this isn’t me saying that no one expected these teams to be solid, but I don’t think a lot of people saw this game occuring while these teams only have 3 total losses in week 12 of the season.
The Packers come into this game as winners of 5 of their last 6 games including a win two weeks ago in a close and snowy game vs. the Panthers at Lambeau. The Packers lone loss in the last 7 weeks comes to the Chargers of all teams. While the Chargers have struggled to find an identity all season, they do have the overall personnel on their roster to show up for one game against a good opponent and that is exactly what happened a few weeks ago. The 49ers are coming off of two of their closest games of the season after starting off the season 8-0. The 49ers were in a stressful Monday night game two weeks ago that ended on a last second field goal by the Seahawks to take the lead and win the game before it went into a tie. Last week, the 49ers struggled to get into a rhythm early, but eventually mounted a comeback vs. the Cardinals and won a close game that ended on a strange defensive touchdown to make the score look different than the game flow. The 49ers are favored by 3 points here at home and the total is currently sitting at 47. This total means that Vegas is giving the Packers an implied total of 22 and the 49ers an implied total of 25. The 49ers offense has been very strange all year, but they have clearly been able to rely on a great ground attack to stabilize their offense throughout the season and in individual games. Kyle Shanahan is one of the best offensive minds in the NFL and his run game schemes have been excellent this year. This rushing offense featuring multiple backs has given a lot of teams fits, especially when compounded by an elite defense. The two key injuries for the 49ers offense are gaining steam on the comeback trail and I expect them to get at least one of Breida or Kittle back this week. I expect Kittle to play this week and I think Breida is about 50/50 as of right now. Kittle is the much bigger deal simply because of his talent level compared to the field. Kittle is one of the best tight ends in the league on a team that lack elite targets while Breida is replaced with Raheem Mostert and this offense see very little change in efficiency. The Packers offense should be a very interesting watch in this game because I think that this matchup is very similar to the Chargers for the Packers and that is one that they struggled with mightily. This 49ers pass rush has been dominant this season and the Packers really struggled with pressure against the Chargers a few weeks ago. While they should be more prepared this week, will they actually be able to stop it against a better defense right now? Davante Adams should be a huge focus of the 49ers secondary and they should understand that he is the one that the Packers want to rely on in big matchups and situations. I would focus a lot of attention on Adams in this spot, especially with an elite pass rush at your disposal. I like the 49ers to cover the game because of their pass rush and their ability to gash the Packers in the run game. The Packers have shown almost no ability to stop the run consistently and the 49ers are second in the league in rushing yards per game behind the Ravens, who have a QB running for 79 yards a game on his own. On the other side of the ball, I expect the Packers to move the ball at times, but I do think that they will have trouble with the pressure and lose a lot of drives due to losses forced by the defensive front 7 of the 49ers. These two matchups exploit the most notable trends within these two teams and both favor the 49ers. I am good with laying the -3 points on the 9-1 49ers here at home. Bet the 49ers at PayPerHead247, our top choice for pay per head bookie! Are you interested in Pay Per Head? Red Hot Packers
Top NFC Seed 49ers
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