49ers schedule 2022: Predicting wins and losses for 2nd half of season
49ers schedule: Weeks 10-12
Week 10 vs. Chargers: Sunday, Nov. 13 at 8:20 p.m. ET
The 49ers’ bye week gets extended a little longer, as they don’t play their first game out of the break until Sunday night. The Chargers come to town with their 5-3 record, with losses coming at the hands of the Chiefs, Jaguars, and Seahawks.
While their offense, led by quarterback Justin Herbert, has been solid, ranking ninth in the NFL in total yards and 13th in scoring, the other LA team’s defense has been surprisingly porous. Coming into the Sunday Night Football matchup, the Chargers are 21st in yards allowed and 30th in points given up so through eight games.
But the place where this game truly turns is the Chargers’ run defense, which is last in the league in yards allowed per attempt at 5.7 and 29th in total rushing yards allowed with 1,164. That’s good (or bad, depending on your perspective) for 145.5 yards per game for their opponents.
Kyle Shanahan has got to be licking his chops.
Expect a big game from Christian McCaffrey and for Shanahan to fold Elijah Mitchell in to get him up to speed.
That, along with a healthy dose of the returning Deebo Samuel, should power the Niners to a win coming out of the bye.
Result: W
Record: 5-4
Week 11 @ Cardinals (in Mexico City): Monday, Nov. 21 at 8:15 p.m. ET
The 49ers will head to Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to take on their division foes on Monday Night Football to close out Week 11. And based on the Cardinals’ performance so far in 2022, this one seems like an easy one to predict.
Yet, since Shanahan took over as San Francisco’s head coach, the Cardinals have been a thorn in his side. And that’s even before Arizona added quarterback Kyler Murray and head coach Kliff Kingsbury to the fray.
Since 2017, the teams have met 10 times. The Cardinals have won seven of those games. This includes a season sweep in 2017, 2018, and 2021.
But the 3-6 Cardinals have been mediocre on offense (16th in points, 17th in yards) and absolutely putrid on defense (31 in points allowed, 26th in yards). And while their main weakness is defending the pass, they aren’t great against the run either.
Shanahan will also find a lot of reasons to like this matchup for his offense. And in what will likely be a 49ers-heavy fanbase in Mexico, expect the Niners to snag their third win in a row.
Result: W
Record: 6-4
Week 12 vs. Saints: Sunday, Nov. 27 at 4:25 p.m. ET
The Saints are a weird team.
Their offense is flying high in 2022, led mostly by veteran quarterback Andy Dalton, who has started six of the Saints’ nine games, starting in their Week 4 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Saints are putting up points (212, good for 11th in the league) and racking up yards (3,398 good for sixth in the league) but have only won three games mostly because they can’t stop anyone from scoring.
Even in two of their wins, they gave up 26 and 32 points to the Falcons and Seahawks, respectively, with the weird outlier of pitching a shutout against the Raiders in a Week 8 home win.
It remains to be seen when — or even if — Jameis Winston will return as the starter for this team, which is still just a game behind NFC South co-leaders Tampa Bay and Atlanta in spite of its 3-6 record. But, should they continue to give up points in bunches as they have, it may not matter.
The question here will be whether the San Francisco defense can put the clamps on a talented group of offensive skill players, including running back Alvin Kamara and rookie wideout Chris Olave.
Scoring points, providing the 49ers’ offense keeps humming, likely won’t be an issue. If they’re able, the win streak should continue.