At one point this week, the San Francisco 49ers were favored by as many as two points against the New York Giants. The two teams square off on Sunday at Levi's Stadium. This week was the first time this season that San Francisco was favored in a game. The 49ers enter the Week 10 contest winless while New York heads into the game with a single victory under its belt. That lone victory came on October 15 when the Giants defeated the Denver Broncos 23-10.
Just days later, the 49ers are no longer favored. None of the sources at OddsShark list the 49ers as the favorite anymore. The Giants are now favored by as much as 2.5 points with the over/under for the game set at 42 points. The 49ers are 4-5 against the spread while the Giants are 3-5.
Sunday's game may represent the 49ers' best chance to avoid a winless season. Of course, it could also be said that Sunday represents New York's best chance avoid a single-win season.
"This is the best chance, to me, for the 49ers to win a game this year," said 49ers Webzone writer and co-host of our "No Huddle" podcast, Al Sacco. "If they don't win this -- unless [Jimmy] Garoppolo comes in and he's good -- it's going to be tough for them to win another game...
"They're playing a Giants team that's talking about benching Eli Manning right now. If they're not going to get a win this weekend, I don't know when they're going to get a win."
The 49ers will get a much-needed bye week following Sunday and then prepare for a six-week stretch to end the season that includes the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Los Angeles Rams.
San Francisco is coming off of a 20-10 defeat at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals while New York is coming off of their worst defeat of the season – a 51-17 pummeling by the surprising Rams. The last time the crowd at Levi's Stadium saw the home team come away with a victory was on September 12, 2016, when the 49ers opened the season with a 28-0 victory over the Rams.
"This is as close to a lock as you'll see all season," said the other co-host of our "No Huddle" podcast, Zain Naqvi, "and it's not a lock at all."
Despite their concern, both Sacco and Naqvi picked the 49ers to win this week.
"The Giants, they're without their top three receivers," Naqvi continued. "They have no way of generating a ton of points and this has to be that week where the 49ers win. I think that, if they can put together even like a B-minus effort, they should be able to win this game."
The 49ers and Giants kick off on Sunday at 1:25 p.m. PT.
