More than
Winning Selections...
Money Management Tools
to Turn Picks into Profits.

The last time these two teams met, on the final day of the 2019 regular season, they decided the Super Bowl.

Let me explain.

The Seahawks had beaten the Super Bowl bound 49ers in a midseason game at Levi’s Stadium, and while San Francisco had led the NFC West all season and had a near lock on the number one seed in the NFC playoffs, that advantage came into serious jeopardy in Seattle last December.

The 49ers had lost a pair of December games, to the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons, and a third loss would have knocked them out of both the division title and top seed in the playoffs. That crumbling defeat looked likely in the waning moments of the game in Seattle last December when the Seahawks nearly overcame a 12 point fourth quarter deficit while driving to a first-and-goal at the one-yard-line while trailing 26-21.

A delay of game pushed the Seahawks back five yards, but on fourth down Russell Wilson completed a pass to Jacob Hollister and he headed for the endzone when 49ers linebacker Drew Greenlaw made a game saving tackle. The play needed an official review to confirm Greenlaw had stopped Hollister short, and when it was confirmed the defensive play for the 49ers could be compared to the one Dan Bunz handed the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI. The Bunz tackle saved a Super Bowl lead and eventual win, the Greenlaw stop ended the game and locked up both the division title and top seed in the playoffs for the 49ers. Ironically, both games, the Super Bowl win over Cincinnati and victory last December against Seattle, ended with the same score, 26-21.

Had the Seahawks beaten the 49ers last December, they would have won the NFC West and been plotted as a third seed in the postseason. The 49ers would have dropped to a Wild Card and fifth seed.

One of the things that is heard this time of the year are people dissing a team with a good record with criticism based on the quality of competition they have beaten. First of all, one of the reasons a team with a good record has played teams with losing ones, is because they beat them. Second, teams play who is on their schedule.

Winning records are winning records, and the teams that achieve them are most likely the better teams, no matter who they played when they got their victories. Now, that is not to say a team that has played anybody from the NFC East is not going to have a better chance of a winning mark than those that have had to play teams out of the NFC West. For the record, the NFC East just set a record by having no team in their division with at least three wins seven weeks into a season, and the NFC West, well everyone has a winning record and all of them have four or more wins.

This year, teams out of the NFC West, where the Rams call home, have on their schedule games against the NFC East. That is one of the reasons all the teams in the NFC West have won at least four games this year, and, by the way, all four of the Rams victories this year have come against NFC East teams. They have already completed their schedule against that division and racked up wins over the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.

The Rams only two games played against other than NFC East teams have resulted in losses. Los Angeles was downed in road encounters against the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers.

The Bears have been a bit more impressive in where they have collected their five wins in six starts, including a victory a couple weeks ago in a primetime matchup against Tom Brady and his streaking Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So, maybe that is why a lot of people are taking the Bears tonight with what appears a generous point spread of six points.

Here is something you seldom see in the National Football League; a team enjoys a primetime romp on Monday Night Football one week, and for their game coming up the following Sunday the opening point spread goes up while the public lines up on their opponent.

What makes this strange is that if the books are moving the line on a game like this, then the wise guys early action also has to be against the team that enjoyed a romp win on Monday night.

Okay, let’s put a real life situation behind these factors. The Arizona Cardinals went into Dallas last night and dismantled a Cowboys team that looks as out of sync as a synchronized swimming squad on the first day of tryouts. Dallas lost their sixth straight point spread decision and maintained giving up more than 30 points in every game since losing their opener at Los Angeles. This one, not as close as the score, saw Dallas hammered to submission, 38-10.

The win kept the Cardinals in the thick of the NFC West Division playoff hunt, now even with the second place Rams and one-and-one half games behind the front running Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks are one of two undefeated teams this year, and carry their 5-0 mark into Arizona this week in an attempt to widen their gap on first place.

So, if we are doing the math our way, we like the second place Cardinals to tighten this race with a home win over the Seahawks. But, what is cautionary is why everyone else, including people I respect, are backing the road team here.

Turns out, they have some mechanical factors that point to the Seahawks extending their perfect season.