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The 49ers snuck past the Cardinals twice last season, and Arizona looks primed to put together a club that could pose problems for San Francisco again in 2020. Despite that, the 49ers are 6.5-point favorites over the Cardinals on Sunday in their season opener according to Bet MGM.
While that 6.5-point line isn’t indicative of their two close contests from a season ago, the line has come down quite a bit since it opened in May. San Francisco was favored by as many as 9 in some books. Bettors pushing that number down with wagers on Arizona point to a clearer picture of how bettors think this game will go. Books place lines in a spot that will get equal action on both sides — they’re not necessarily trying to guess how much one team will win by or how close the game will be.
The 49ers had issues with mobile quarterbacks a season ago, and Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray figures to be even better in his second season equipped with All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Rookie linebacker Isaiah Simmons presents some matchup issues for the 49ers’ offense, and an optimistic outlook on the Cardinals combined with the “Super Bowl hangover” narrative for San Francisco makes an easy case for taking the Cardinals plus the points.
It’s more difficult to logically draw a line between the 49ers and a blowout victory in the season opener. They played two close games with Arizona last season, and now they could be going into this contest without wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, and center Ben Garland. Even if they were healthy, the 49ers probably weren’t going to run away with a win against the Cardinals. Their injuries make it even harder to envision them winning by a touchdown or more.
The pick: Cardinals +6.5
[Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.]
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