For the second time this season, the 49ers will be underdogs

The San Francisco 49ers ended up being a “pick-em” Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Funny enough, they were the same the following week against the Bengals. Since then, Week 5 against the Rams was the only other time this season San Francisco was an underdog, and we saw how that went.

The 49ers travel to Baltimore for Week 13 to face the best opponent they’ll see all season. The Ravens come into the game hitting on all cylinders, and undressed the Rams on national TV. The Niners’ did the same thing to Green Bay. When the opening lines were released Sunday evening, San Francisco opened up as a four-point favorite. As of writing this, the 49ers are now six-point underdogs with the total set at 46. So Vegas is expecting Baltimore to win 26-20.

The two teams have six common opponents. Looking at the point differential in those games, Baltimore is +83, while San Francisco is +69. That doesn’t paint the entire picture of how dominant these two teams have been. Both made a trade at the deadline to bolster their rosters. The Niners traded for Emmanuel Sanders, while the Ravens added Marcus Peters. In five games, San Francisco is +77 with Sanders, while Baltimore is +140 with Peters. The Patriots are widely regarded as the NFL’s other top team. In their five games since the trade deadline, New England is +13. There are two teams, then everyone else.

The forecast for Sunday is 49 degrees with a 90% chance of rain. There will be light winds blowing about nine miles per hour. I’m not sure if the wind will play that much of a factor, considering the style of play for each team. Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis will be on the call Sunday for Fox.

To me, this will be the most intriguing game of the season, but the game against Seattle will be for all the marbles.