The Arizona Cardinals made some significant upgrades on both sides of the ball this offseason while the 49ers retained almost their entire group of starters from last season. Both 2019 matchups between San Francisco and Arizona went down to the wire with the latter of the two requiring a late comeback by the 49ers at home. Despite all of those factors, the 49ers are favored by 8.5 points against the Cardinals in their Week 1 matchup according to sports betting site Bet MGM.
Lines are set with the goal of getting equal action from bettors, but 8.5 points still feels like a lot for the 49ers. They knocked off the Cardinals 28-25 in Arizona last year, then beat them 36-26 at Levi’s Stadium. The 10-point victory was a bit of a fluke though since they scored a last-second touchdown on a fumble by the Cardinals as they tried to lateral their way to a score with no time left.
Without the fluke score at the end of their second meeting, the 49ers beat the Cardinals twice by a combined seven points last year. Two games wouldn’t have been enough to cover the 8.5 points, and Arizona should be better this season.
They added wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to a receiving corps that already features Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk, who emerged as a legitimate threat in his second season. Quarterback Kyler Murray will be more experienced, and they re-signed running back Kenyan Drake after he produced at a high level for them following a mid-season trade. On top of that, they added do-everything defensive weapon Isaiah Simmons who could be very difficult to game plan against going into the first week of the season.
Where the 49ers will have an advantage is their continuity. With offseason work limited, getting new receivers and rookie defenders acclimated won’t be easy. San Francisco has enough players returning that they should be able to get off to a relatively fast start.
Still, 8.5 points is a lot of points. If that game does get played on Sept. 13, expect that number to come down quite a bit as money comes in on the Cardinals.
