The San Francisco 49ers (2-2, 2-0 away) meet up with the Arizona Cardinals (4-0, 1-0 home) for an NFC West showdown in Week 5 of National Football League play. San Francisco aims to get back on track after a pair of narrow defeats, while the Cardinals look to extend their undefeated record another week.
Sunday’s kickoff is at 4:25 p.m. EST inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ. Arizona is a 5-point favorite over the Niners, and the total over-under is at 49 points.
What to Know – San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco looks to get back on track after beginning the season with a pair of victories and dropping consecutive contests by a total of nine points to the Packers and Seahawks. A win for San Francisco would be major, keeping the Niners from falling too far down the divisional standings.
Starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will miss the game with a calf injury, giving rookie signal-caller Trey Lance his first career start. In last week’s defeat, Lance was 9-of-18 for 157 yards and a pair of touchdowns and added 41 yards on the ground.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel gives Lance a go-to guy on the outside. Samuel has had a solid first month of the season, leading the NFL with 490 yards receiving. The third-year pro caught eight of 13 targets last week for 156 yards and two touchdowns.
San Francisco is 4-9 against the spread over their last 13 contests and 1-5-1 ATS in their last seven against the Cardinals.
What to Know – Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals are the only remaining undefeated team after four weeks of play, winning three of their four games by double-digits. Arizona sits atop a tough NFC West and plays three of their next four contests at home.
Kyler Murray is the early front-runner for league MVP. The Cardinals’ quarterback has thrown for nine touchdowns and rushed for three, tallying 1,382 yards of offense. Murray is completing 79.4% of his passes over the last three games, setting a franchise record for completion percentage over that stretch.
Four Arizona receivers have over 200 yards receiving, and three have multiple touchdown grabs. DeAndre Hopkins has three touchdown catches, and veteran A.J. Green has added 177 yards through the air over the last two weeks.
Arizona is 3-1 ATS this season and 5-1 ATS over their last six games played in October.
The Pick is In
Sunday’s contest should be a thriller in the desert between these two divisional foes. One of the big question marks will be how the rookie quarterback fares in his first start on the road against one of the top teams in the league.
Arizona is rolling with no signs of slowing down and get a chance to defeat a divisional opponent and give the Niners their third-straight loss. This will be the second contest in three weeks facing a rookie quarterback for the Cardinals’ defense.
Lance provides some fireworks, but the Cardinals offense does what it needs to move to 5-0 and hand San Francisco another blow. Arizona wins it, 27-21.
Betting Pick: Arizona Cardinals -5
