49ers vs Cardinals Prediction and Odds for Week 18 (Get That No. 1 Seed!)
By Adam Weinrib
One week after playing (and dropping) the most irrelevant game of the season against the Atlanta Falcons, the Arizona Cardinals find themselves back in a contest that helps determine postseason seeding this weekend against the San Francisco 49ers.
Brock Purdy and the Niners battled it out in OT in Las Vegas last week, inching past the resurgent Raiders (and Jarrett Stidham) to keep their hopes for the No. 1 seed alive.
Now, they’ll face off at Levi’s Stadium with Arizona, while keeping their peripherals firmly planted on the action in Philadelphia. The Minnesota Vikings, playing in the early hour, cannot swipe the No. 1 seed from the Eagles, even if the two clubs tie in the standings, by virtue of the primetime beating Philly delivered to Kirk Cousins and Co. earlier in the season.
The Niners? All they need is a victory over a down-and-out Cards team combined with … the New York Giants’ backups triumphing on the road in Philly. Won’t be easy, and there’s a reason Kyle Shanahan is staying focused on the task at hand:
"“We’ll see how it plays out, and we’ll see what the situation is, and I know one thing: We would love to be the one seed, but right now, we got the two seed, and we want to make sure we at least stay the two seed,” Shanahan told reporters Wednesday. “In order to do that, we need to win.“To me, there’s only one thing that guys should be worried about, and our team should be talking about and that is beating Arizona.”"
How confident are the sportsbooks that such a “beating” will be recorded? Well…
49ers vs Cardinals Odds Week 18
According to FanDuel, the 49ers are also favored by a whopping 14 points here, and you can bet on them to cover at -110. The Cardinals have identical odds to cover +14.
If you want to bet the 49ers to win outright on the moneyline, you can snag it at the bargain price of -950 (yeah, the books are confident). You can bet on the Cardinals coming home victorious at +640 odds if you think things will go awry for the home team.
The over/under is 40.5, and both the over and under are also valued at -110.
*Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.*
49ers vs Cardinals Prediction Week 18
Knowing what we know, it’s difficult to bank on David Blough rallying the undermanned Cardinals and pulling off an historic upset — though keep your eyes on rookie tight end Trey McBride, who emerged in relative silence last week, and could end his season on a high note.
Betting on the 49ers to cover this absurd line is a challenge; after all, the Cardinals didn’t surrender without a fight last week, and they know what’s at stake. That said, the median outcome of this contest is probably a Niners beatdown.
Prediction: 49ers 34, Cardinals 13
