Do the 49ers clinch the NFC West early?

The top duel of the NFC West division garners the NFL in primetime! In the “Thursday Night Game”, in which the Seattle Seahawks host the San Francisco 49ers, a forecast in favour of the visitors is the logical consequence of the last few weeks. They are swimming on a wave of success, despite their third quarterback, and have recently celebrated six wins in a row.

Since Seattle lost to the Carolina Panthers last week in the battle for the place in the sun in the division, it is quite possible that the visitors could even book the division victory and the associated place in the playoffs with a win in the direct duel.

The Niners debuted against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with quarterback Brock Purdy, who was selected 262nd overall in this year’s draft as “Mr. Irrelevant”. At 22 years old, he led his offense to 35 points against Tom Brady’s Buccaneers, who managed just seven, thanks to strong actions and throws.

Seattle Seahawks – stats & current form

Whoever would have predicted before the season that the Seattle Seahawks would still be in the playoff race this late in the season would probably have met with little approval. After all, with the decision against Russell Wilson, who was traded to Denver, the Hawks were expected to have a transition year at most. Now, however, Seattle finds itself ahead of the Rams and Cardinals in the NFC West division and still has a realistic chance of making the postseason.

However, two mammoth tasks now await. After Thursday’s game, they will play the Kansas City Chiefs the following week and in order to stay in the race for the playoffs, two wins from both matches would be absolutely necessary. That’s why, in retrospect, the avoidable defeat against the Panthers is particularly painful. The performance against Carolina was also quarterback Geno Smith’s first game this season in which he threw two interceptions.

Best Wide Receiver Duos?

It’s far from a secret that the passing offense is working well. Standout kickoffs DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are both on pace for 1000-yard receiving seasons. Both caught 14 of Smith’s 25 touchdown passes. If either posts another successful end zone visit in the Seahawks vs. 49ers game, great odds are possible.

Running back Kenneth Walker has been missing from Seattle’s ranks of late. However, there are increasing signs that the rookie will be able to take on the best rushing defence in the league. The home side, however, should not seek their salvation in the running game in the coming game, but rather attack San Francisco’s defence by passing, as it is much more vulnerable.

Their own defence has had enormous problems recently when the opponent tried to move the ball on the ground. In the last four games, they allowed a total of 838 against sometimes weak rushing offences. This is exactly why the upcoming matchup could also be the “worst case scenario” for the Seahawks. San Francisco will have a very good chance to score points with their extremely variable running game, according to our forecast. Speaking of points: The Hawks allow the third most points of any team, averaging 25.7.

Key Players:
QB: Geno Smith
RB: Kenneth Walker III
WR: DK Metcalf
TE: Noah Fant
K: Jason Myers

San Francisco 49ers – stats & current form

The gazettes were abuzz after the win against Tampa Bay not only in the Bay Area, but all over the world. Rookie Brock Purdy, of course, was primarily responsible for this. The 49ers playmaker convinced on almost all levels that the quarterback game offers. Of course, he also benefited from his coach Kyle Shanahan, who is without a doubt one of the best playcallers and play designers working in the NFL.

The offense works with Purdy, too

In addition, the Niners were able to move the ball well via the run game, making it even easier for the young playmaker. But that is just part of the normality for the team from California, due to the strong squad, and therefore it is not excluded that Purdy can also show good performances in the coming games.

A moment of shock for everyone present at Levi’s Stadium was the injury to wide receiver Deebo Samuel, which fortunately only turned out to be a sprained ankle. If the Niners win against Seattle and secure the playoffs early, he would have enough recovery time to be fit again in time for the postseason. In addition, making the playoffs early would give Kyle Shanahan’s team the leeway to test the young quarterback more intensively in the coming weeks.

The Seahawks’ weak defence against runs by opposing offenses seems like a matchup painted for the visitors. In the first duel between the two teams, on the second day of play, the Niners ran for 189 yards. While they are still missing a key running back in Elijah Mitchell, they still have one of the best players at the position in Christian McCaffrey. With 8.5 yards per play he showed a tremendously strong performance against the statistically better Buccaneers defence.

As already mentioned in the Seattle section, the Niners have the best rushing defence, but it is occasionally spotty against opposing passes. It is to be expected that the home side will be able to exploit this better than in the first meeting, where they could only put seven points on the scoreboard.

Key Players:
QB: Brock Purdy
RB: Christian McCaffrey
WR: Brandon Aiyuk
TE: George Kittle
K: Robbie Gould

Seattle Seahawks – San Francisco 49ers Head-to-head comparison / H2H record

With the win against Seattle, the Niners celebrated their first victory of the season in September in a 27-7 win. It was also San Francisco’s first win after previously losing four in a row to the franchise from Washington State.

The historical view of the duel, however, is very clear and the team from the Bay Area will do everything to polish up this statistic in the upcoming game. Out of 48 encounters, the Seattle Seahawks won 30 times, the San Francisco 49ers only 18 times. Between the Seahawks and the 59ers, the betting odds on the 19th win for the visitors in the comparison are a maximum of 1.53.

An over/under limit of 43.5 points is issued by the bookmakers and we tend to tip between the Seahawks and 49ers that this will be reached. This has been the case four times in the last five games between the two teams.

Seattle Seahawks – San Francisco 49ers betting tips

In their last six wins, the Niners averaged 28.6 points and it’s not out of the question that they can push the visitors into similar spheres in the Seahawks vs. 49ers matchup. A bet that the Californians will score at least 24 points against the hosts at “Lumen Field Stadium” is worth odds of 1.90 with bookmaker betano. The way this offence worked last week, this is one of the most lucrative variants in the duel for us.

The fact that the 49ers are favourites by just 3.5 points is partly because it is an away game and the last away win in this pairing came in 2019. On top of that, both teams had a short week, but San Francisco in addition had the travel hassles.

Last but not least, everyone is probably waiting for a game where quarterback Brock Purdy starts making rookie mistakes. We’re waiting for that too, but see the upcoming matchup as too good for him and his team. That’s why we’re also betting on the visitors to win the matchup by at least a four-point difference. There are odds of 1.95 between the Seahawks and 49ers at bookmaker bwin.

In the H2H section we already mentioned that we expect a game with plenty of points and therefore this bet is of course also worth a recommendation.