Down two quarterbacks since the start of the season the San Francisco 49ers are presented the opportunity to clinch the NFC West with a win over the second-place Seattle Seahawks in the Week 15 edition of Thursday Night Football. Granted it’s been a down year for the division with the defending Super Bowl champion Rams struggling, but the Niners have overcome their injury issues to win six straight games. They also battered the Seahawks, 27-7, when the clubs met in Santa Clara in Week 2. SF has had trouble in the Pacific Northwest with just one win in its previous 11 trips going 2-9 ATS.
The Week 15 Thursday Night Football contest between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks will take place at Lumen Field in Seattle at 8:15 p.m. ET on December 15, 2022 and will air on Prime Video.
49ers vs Seahawks Odds (Week 15)
San Francisco 49ers -3.5 ( -179 )
Seattle Seahawks +3.5 ( +154 )
Over/Under 43.5
Odds Analysis
The Niners have clearly been the class of the division and some will say they’re the best team in the NFC with a shutdown defense. They go for their seventh straight victory taking on the freefalling Seahawks as a growing favorite. The Niners opened as a 3-point favorite with that number climbing to -3.5 with over 70 percent of the wagers on the visitors. The Niners pummeled Tampa Bay 35-7 last week covering the 3.5-point line improving to 5-1 ATS during their current winning streak. Seattle was in first place through nine weeks of the campaign but a recent dry spell leaves them needing a win to stay alive for the division crown. The Seahawks have dropped three of four after last week’s 30-24 loss to Carolina and they are 0-4 ATS in that span. They’ve beaten San Francisco two straight at home and the Seahawks are 10-1 SU and 9-2 ATS in the previous 11 encounters in Seattle.
San Francisco 49ers
You can talk about Brock Purdy and the offense all you want, but last week’s game takes on a different look if not for two questionable early major penalties against the Bucs that extended drives leading to scores. The Niners still had to execute and they did. Purdy tossed a pair of scoring passes and ran for another and Christian McCaffrey rushed for 119 yards and a score on 14 carries. Just like when Jimmy G was in there, Purdy doesn’t have to do a lot. Just don’t turn the ball over and manage the game with the playmakers and defense surrounding him.
Defensively the Niners are nails leading the NFL in fewest total yards, rushing yards and points allowed. Since giving up 44 to the Chiefs in Week 7, the group has held of each of the last six opponents to 17 points or less outscoring them by an average of 18 points. Though they’ve been strong holding opponents off the scoreboard, the Niners cashed the OVER in two straight games and four times during their current winning streak. There were some injury issues that clouded an otherwise gleeful Niners camp. Purdy is dealing with sore ribs, though he’s expected to play. Deebo Samuel is out for a few weeks with a knee injury.
Seattle Seahawks
Now that Arizona’s Kyler Murray is likely done after getting carted off the field in Monday’s loss to New England, Geno Smith is the only Week 1 starter among the division teams still taking snaps. Getting back to a starting role for the first time in years, Smith has put together a solid season for an offense that ranks sixth in scoring with 26.3 points per game. Smith has completed 71.5 percent of his passes for 3,433 yards and 25 touchdowns. But he struggled in the first meeting with the Niners going 24 of 30 for 197 yards and an interception. The offense failed to score a touchdown and managed just 216 total yards. And Smith made mistakes last week he avoided for much of the season tossing a pair of interceptions.
Smith and the offense just haven’t been good enough to cover for a defense that’s gotten chewed up the past few weeks. Carolina rushed for 223 yards with Seattle allowing more than 200 yards on the ground in two of its last three games. Five straight opponents have amassed more than 120 yards on the ground leaving the Seahawks with the second-worst run defense in the NFL. The Legion of Boom days are long gone with Seattle 30th in points allowed per game and 28th in total yards surrendered. Seattle cashed the OVER in three straight games and four of five while the OVER is 5-1-1 in the past seven series meetings in Seattle.
49ers vs Seahawks Prediction
There’s nothing that says the Seahawks are going to win this game. And that’s the beauty of the NFL and sports in general; you never know what’s going to happen. Given their success at home in the past and the possibility of handing the division title away while on their own surface, I see the Seahawks rising to the occasion.
Prediction: Seattle Seahawks +3.5 and OVER 43.5
