These are not your older brother's 49ers, the can-do team coached by Jim Harbaugh that possessed a strong ground game, effective and athletic quarterback, and one of the league's best defenses. These 49ers are injured, weak, and largely terrible, and the Falcons are favored by seven points this coming Sunday.
There are reasons the Falcons aren't favored by more, of course.
- The 49ers are at home.
- The Falcons have played some lousy football over the last month, and just lost to a not-so-great Buccaneers team.
- There's really nowhere to go but up for the 49ers, who have been unbelievably awful this year.
Then there are the reasons this shouldn't even be a one score game.
- Colin Kaepernick has been so bad that the 49ers have benched him in favor of Blaine Gabbert, which is truly awful.
- Carlos Hyde is injured and the 49ers basically have nothing else at running back, further limiting an already limited offense.
- This 49ers team is an unmitigated tire fire, at home or on the road, and even this mistake-prone version of the Falcons is better than them.
We'll see how things shake out in this one. Originally I ranted because this line opened up with the Falcons as mere three point favorites, but with Blaine Gabbert starting, Vegas has wisely adjusted that. I think the Falcons are very likely to win this one by more than seven points, of course, but I understand some caution with the way Atlanta has played at late.