The 49ers can win the NFC West today, but that means taking care of the Cardinals.
The San Francisco 49ers have a chance to wrap this divisional thing up. Today they travel to Arizona to face the Arizona Cardinals where a win this weekend can get them the NFC West. Despite being favored over the Cardinals on paper, the 49ers will have a bit of a challenge in this one beyond just a divisional opponent. This will be an afternoon game, Ian Eagle will be getting the play by play and Charles Davis will be handling commentary.
The 49ers punched their ticket to the 2023 NFL playoffs with a win over rival Seattle Seahawks. While the 49ers were in control most of the game, the score was a bit misleading as the Seahawks had several opportunities to make some fans say “Oh no, here we go again.” Brock Purdy’s deep ball continues to impress and the 49ers offense as a whole has never been this lethal under Kyle Shanahan.
The Cardinals are coming off a bye week late in the season. They are not officially out of the playoffs, but with just three wins, they are pretty much out of the playoffs, just not on paper. Despite this, they had a good win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, in Pittsburgh before going into their bye. Part of that win might be a bit misleading since quarterback Kenny Pickett was injured early, letting Mitch Trubisky take over. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is back in the fold and has shown some maturity. At this point and win/loss record, they are looking for any positive momentum they can take into the offseason.
Kyler Murray has caught the 49ers a couple times by surprise in the past, but he’s also shown current signs of regression. Against the Steelers he went 13 for 23(56 percent completion percentage), a touchdown, and two sacks. His passer rating was 89.9. Meanwhile running backs James Connor and Michael Carter were carrying most of the load. The Cardinals defense managed to hold the Steeler’s offense to 317 yards and 10 points for the day.
On paper, this wouldn’t even be close. The 49ers have more depth and better playmakers. However a lot of their key defensive players will not be starting. Defensive linemen Arik Armstead (foot) and Javon Kinlaw (hamstring) are both out. Running back Elijah Mitchell is also out. Cornerback Charvarius Ward (groin), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (hip/ankle), and offensive linemen Aaron Banks (hip) and Spencer Burford (knee) are all listed as questionable. John Lynch has indicated Ward may be a gametime decision. This means we should be seeing a decent amount of Javon Kinlaw, Kalia Davis, and Kevin Givens. Kinlaw and Givens both have been showing some good stuff the last few weeks, Kinlaw in particular.
The Cardinals will be without cornerback Bobby Price and Linebacker Tyreke Smith. Wide Receiver Marquise Brown is questionable.
The 49ers opened up as -13.5 favorites, and as of Saturday that number has only dropped to 12 with all that injury news. This very well could be a trap game if the 49ers don’t take care of business early. If they want to hold onto that No. 1 seed, they can’t afford a loss with Baltimore looming.
Date: Sunday, December 17th, 2023
Kickoff: 1:05 PM PST, 4:05 PM EST
Location: State Farm Stadium, Glendale Arizona
Network: CBS
Play-by-Play: Ian Eagle
Color Analyst: Charles Davis
Broadcast Map (from 506sports.com)
SB Nation Affiliate: Revenge of the Birds
Odds: 49ers at -12
Total: 48.5
For more betting information, please visit DraftKings Sportsbook.
About the Author: Insidethe49
