Packers vs. 49ers prediction: NFL divisional playoffs odds, best bets
The San Francisco 49ers missed out on their shot at a Super Bowl appearance last season in their loss in the NFC Championship.
However, Kyle Shanahan’s team is set up nicely to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2019 season with homefield advantage in the NFC.
The first task for the NFC West champions is to knock off the upstart Green Bay Packers, who surprised Dallas in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs last week.
The two teams meet at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday in the Divisional Round.
The Packers jumped out to a 27-0 first-half lead over the Cowboys, highlighted by a pair of Aaron Jones touchdown runs and an interception return for a score.
Green Bay held off Dallas, 48-32, but easily cashed as seven-point underdogs for its fourth straight win overall.
The 49ers finished as the top seed in the NFC at 12-5 despite losing two of their final three games in the regular season.
The Week 18 loss to the Rams didn’t mean much with plenty of starters sitting, but quarterback Brock Purdy’s MVP hopes were dashed two weeks earlier in a 33-19 home defeat to the Ravens.
Purdy was intercepted four times, while the Niners suffered three losses to the AFC North – the NFL’s only division where every team finished with a winning record.
The good news for the Niners is they covered the spread in nine of their 12 victories, with two of the non-covers coming when they were favored by 13 or more points.
San Francisco has won each of its past four playoff games at Levi’s Stadium, including three of them by double digits.
The shortest margin of victory was seven in last season’s divisional win over the Cowboys, 19-12.
Green Bay has essentially been playing postseason football for the last four weeks as any loss in this stretch would have knocked them out of the playoffs.
Quarterback Jordan Love has turned it on over the second half of the season by throwing 21 touchdown passes and only one interception in the last nine games.
The last time these teams hooked up in the playoffs came during San Francisco’s run to the NFC Championship in 2021 as the 49ers upset the Packers at Lambeau Field, 13-10, as six-point underdogs.
Green Bay was extremely impressive in last week’s rout of Dallas, but San Francisco is the superior side in all three phases of the game.
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Dallas is one thing but this is a different animal heading out to the Bay Area to take on a loaded 49ers squad.
While San Francisco has had two weeks of rest (three if you count Week 18 when the Niners rested starters), the Packers will be playing their fourth road game in five weeks.
At some point it has to catch up with them.
This looks like that spot.
Let’s lay the 9.5 points with San Francisco to eliminate Green Bay and advance to the NFC Championship for a third straight season.
Pick: 49ers -9.5 (-110, BetMGM)
