San Diego Chargers at San Francisco 49ers (-1)
It comes down to one difference between these two teams: recent history. The Chargers are a notoriously streaky team — in fact, we have written about San Diego’s tendency to go on runs, both good and bad, many times throughout the year — while San Francisco has typically been an excellent rebound team. That is, until this year.
In an incredibly precipitous fall from grace, it appears as if 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh will be coaching his final two games with the team in the coming weeks. Hosting the Chargers on a rare nationally televised Saturday game is one of his last opportunities to try to salvage the season and avoid his first losing record as head coach of the 49ers. To boot, San Francisco had not lost three consecutive games under Harbaugh until last week. Four would be completely unprecedented.
San Diego has failed to solidify itself as a team truly worthy of a playoff spot, largely living off its 5-1 start. Unfortunately, the Chargers of the past eight weeks — 3-5 over that span — might be the real team from San Diego this year. Furthermore, as much as San Francisco has struggled — its offense has yet to score 30 points in any game this season – the Chargers have hit a speed-bump as well. San Diego has broken the 30-point barrier only once in the aforementioned eight-game span.
San Francisco, finally getting relief from having to face Seattle twice in three weeks, wins at home by a touchdown and covers the spread.
