The San Francisco 49ers are officially into their bye week, but after the players get some time off, they will return for preparations against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although Week 11 has not been played yet, we already have Week 12 lookahead lines from the Westgate SuperBook. The lookahead line has the 49ers as a five-point underdog on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Sportsbooks offer lookahead lines to give people an idea of how a pair of teams are perceived. The official line will come out later this coming Sunday late afternoon, and this gives us something for comparison. Injuries and performance will dictate just how much it’s worth changing, and what sportsbooks think about the betting public.
Back in May, sportsbook operator CG Technology released lookahead lines for the first 16 weeks of the 2018 NFL season. You could not bet on the lines (outside of Week 1), but it provided a baseline for comparison. The 49ers were installed as a one-point favorite against the Bucs. The loss of Jimmy Garoppolo swung the line in a big way, and Nick Mullens will not be dragging the line back any.
The Bucs travel to face the New York Giants this weekend. Regardless of the outcome of that game, I don’t expect a ton of change in the 49ers-Bucs line. If the Bucs get thumped in New Jersey, maybe the line comes down. But even if the Bucs beat the Giants in a big way, New York stinks, and I don’t think we see a heavy enough rush to cause a big swing in the Week 12 line.