49ers vs. Chargers: 5 bold predictions for Sunday Night Football

The 49ers host the Chargers on Sunday Night Football, and Niner Noise breaks down five bold predictions for the primetime showdown.

Sure, the 5-3 Los Angeles Chargers have a better record halfway through the season than the 4-4 San Francisco 49ers.

But Week 10’s Sunday Night Football bout between these two teams should be a matchup in which the Niners win rather soundly and easily.

Both inconsistent and marred by injury, the Bolts aren’t wholly unlike what head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad has been like over the first half of the year. Yet San Francisco is looking at getting healthy on both sides of the ball, and one might figure Shanahan’s offense already received its much-needed boost from the pre-NFL trade deadline pickup of All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey figures to be a key reason why the 49ers are a touchdown favorite in this game, according to WynnBET, and he’ll lead off our list of bold predictions for Sunday night.

49ers vs. Chargers bold prediction No. 5: Christian McCaffrey will have 150 all-purpose yards

One could boldly predict McCaffrey to get 200 total yards from scrimmage, as Los Angeles ranks dead last in the NFL in allowing an average of 5.7 yards per rush, and head coach Brandon Staley’s defense hasn’t been particularly good at defending against running backs receiving passes out of the backfield either.

And when thinking about how many rush yards the Chargers have allowed as of late, it’s hard not to think of the multifaceted McCaffrey going off in front of a national audience on Sunday night.

Perhaps the lone element holding McCaffrey back from getting 200 yards could be the fact Shanahan would want to work in other offensive weapons, perhaps including running back Elijah Mitchell, who finally seems poised to return after suffering an MCL sprain way back in Week 1.

However, 150 net yards won’t be bad from McCaffrey, but the 200 yards lead us to our next bold prediction for Sunday Night Football.

49ers vs. Chargers bold prediction No. 4: Niners rush for over 200 yards

Christian McCaffrey might net 150 all-purpose yards, but let’s go ahead and predict the Niners, as a team, rush for over 200 yards.

Not only are the Bolts allowing a league-worst 5.7 yards per carry, but they’ve also given up a smashing 1,164 rush yards on the season, which equates to 145.5 rush yards per contest.

And considering Los Angeles has given up at least 200 yards rushing in three of its last four games, a run-happy San Francisco team should have no trouble at least attempting to reach that kind of feat.

On the surface, the 49ers don’t appear to be having the same kind of rushing success one would expect from a Kyle Shanahan-led offense, averaging a middle-of-the-pack 4.5 yards per carry and boasting another mid-level 956 rush yards on the year to date.

However, the bulk of those stats was of the pre-McCaffrey variety, and Shanahan would love nothing more than to go back to that kind of “run it again” offense that helped his 2019 Niners pummel their way through the playoffs.

Too bad the Chargers can’t stop that kind of approach.

49ers vs. Chargers bold prediction No. 3: Bolts fail to reach 300 yards

Alright, it’s time to resurrect that elite-level San Francisco defense that graced the field between Weeks 1 through 5 and not so much the one that fell victim to both the Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs in Weeks 6 and 7, respectively.

Holding the Chargers offense to less than 300 total yards is going to be difficult, especially considering quarterback Justin Herbert has already cemented himself as one of the better young signal-callers in the NFL today.

However, if the 49ers offense maintains possession long enough, simply keeping Herbert and Co. off the field is a true possibility.

There are other elements at play in the Niners’ favor, too, especially two of Herbert’s best receiving weapons, Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, banged up.

Williams missed practice during the week with an ankle injury, while Allen is still recovering from a hamstring injury and has only played two games this year.

True, Herbert has the potential to target his other weapons, and running back Austin Ekeler is a threat.

But let’s look for San Francisco’s defense to clamp down hard on the Chargers this Sunday.

49ers vs. Chargers bold prediction No. 2: Jimmy Garoppolo outduels Justin Herbert

There are some statistical references that back up nearly every bold prediction we’ve had up to this point, but the idea of Justin Herbert being outplayed by 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is a little tougher to quantify.

Herbert, completing 66.4 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns against five interceptions while only having been sacked 10 times, is largely the No. 1 reason why Los Angeles is 5-3 right now.

Garoppolo, despite arguably playing the best football of his career, statistically matches (or comes close) to Herbert in those same categories: 66.7-percent completion rate, 11 pass touchdowns versus four interceptions with 15 sacks taken.

Except Herbert can be a volume passer with yards in his favor, while Garoppolo is far more the game manager.

In this bold and rather unorthodox prediction, though, let’s go ahead and flip what should be the script here and say that Herbert makes some uncharacteristic mistakes during his limited time on the field, tossing a couple of interceptions and taking multiple sacks, both of which have been rare for him this season.

All the while, Garoppolo plays a clean game.

49ers vs. Chargers bold prediction No. 1: Niners win by 2 touchdowns

In our opening prediction piece for Week 10, we suggested the Niners would ultimately beat the Chargers on Sunday night by a score of 27-17, perhaps touting the notion that San Francisco would focus on running the ball early and often, controlling the clock and not letting a banged-up yet still-potent Bolts offense get into any sort of rhythm.

That prediction is only slightly more aggressive than that WynnBET odds note, however, with the 49ers being seven-point home favorites.

Let’s go bold.

The Niners can grind down Los Angeles’ defense for the better part of four quarters, using Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver Deebo Samuel as dual-threat weapons. Justin Herbert might have to respond quickly with each drive to answer back, but San Francisco won’t care about chewing up the clock the first two-plus quarters.

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As was the case with the Los Angeles Rams in Week 8, things fall apart for the 49ers’ opponent in the third and fourth quarters, and the Niners ride that momentum to a two-touchdown victory.

Perhaps something along the line of 35-17.

San Francisco’s Week 10 Sunday Night Football bout against the Chargers kicks off on Nov. 13 at 8:20 p.m. ET from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.