It was a tough off-season for Jim Tomsula's men and they might be in for more turmoil against their NFC West rivals, the Arizona Cardinals
It was an almost cataclysmic summer for the San Francisco 49ers, who seemed to be overwhelmed with retirements and off-field issues at one point.
The defence has been picked slowly apart and, while some pieces still remain, it is going to be very tough against an impressive Arizona Cardinals team on Sunday.
The 49ers are at 41/20 while the Cardinals are priced at 20/51.
Those odds for San Francisco last season would have been snapped up instantly, but the team is unrecognisable now – and not for the better.
The offence has lost power running back Frank Gore, but the team might have found a replacement in second-year Carlos Hyde if he doesn’t get knocked out of the game like last week.
On defence, the list is pretty long for departures.
Perrish Cox, Chris Culliver, Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Chris Borland, Dan Skuta, Patrick Willis and Aldon Smith all either left the club or retired in the off-season and the unit has had a complete overhaul.
They performed admirably against the Minnesota Vikings in their opening game, allowing just three points but they were torched for 43 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2.
San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals betting
Arizona, on the other hand, look like a complete team with quarterback Carson Palmer fit and firing again.
An offence that struggled down the stretch with him out has exploded early in 2015, scoring 31 points in the first week while putting up a whopping 48 in the second week.
It is a very impressive start and Palmer has some serious weapons on offence and the team is really getting into a flow.
If only their defence – that has some Pro Bowl-level talent in Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu – could catch up with them after averaging 21 points allowed in the first two games.
Luckily for Cardinal fans, that area is coach Bruce Arians’ speciality and the unit should pick up the slack soon enough which makes the team a danger for anyone in the NFL.
With both defences giving up points and Arizona having a really powerful unit for scoring, take one of the specials with the Cardinals to win and there to be over 44 points at 10/11.
This will be a big weekend for the 49ers in deciding how their season turns out while the Cardinals will feel that another strong victory will put everyone else in the league on notice.
