It’s nine days until 49ers training camp-week begins! We want to look at each opponent and provide a reason for and against the 49ers beating them. We’ve included a poll for the community to vote on whether they expect a win or a loss. We’ll see what kind of prediction this provides at the end.
Week 1 @ Minnesota Vikings
Week 2 vs. Detroit Lions
Week 3 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Week 4 @ Los Angeles Chargers
Week 5 vs. Arizona Cardinals
Week 6 @ Green Bay Packers
Week 7 vs. Los Angeles Rams
We’ve reached the halfway point of the schedule, and also the first repeat appearance. Three weeks after hosting the Arizona Cardinals, the 49ers travel down to Glendale to close out the season series. I am most fascinated by whether or not Sam Bradford is healthy at this point and in turn if Josh Rosen has moved into the starting lineup.
Reason For: Cardinals secondary
Arizona’s secondary is an x-factor this year. Patrick Peterson remains among the best in the NFL, but unloading Tyrann Mathieu, Justin Bethel, and Tramon Williams leaves them with some question marks. Budda Baker is taking over at free safety, while Brandon Williams and Bene Benwikere will compete for work opposite Peterson. They very well could find some success this year, but it would not surprise me if it takes some time for this group to gel. We’ll see if Week 8 is enough time against the 49ers developing passing attack.
Reason Against: Divisional road games are not easy
The 49ers have actually not beaten Arizona since 2014, losing six straight after beating Arizona ten of the previous twelve games. But above and beyond that, the NFC West has always been all over the place in divisional contests. No team has won more than four of six divisional games sine the Seahawks went 5-1 in 2014. That’s not to say the 49ers losses would come against Arizona, but there’s always at least one unexpected upset in the divisional matchups. The Cardinals have a lot of issues, but they are not going to go winless in the division.
If you can’t see the poll, click here.