These are two injury-riddled teams facing off on a short week in a rematch of last season’s NFC Championship game. The 49ers suffered two major blows with tight end George Kittle and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo leaving the game with injuries that will keep them out multiple weeks. The Packers will likely be without running back Aaron Jones due to a calf injury and two other running backs were placed on the COVID list this week. When in doubt, though, you go with the better quarterback and he plays for the Packers Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers Betting Odds The Packers have never been a completely balanced offense, but Jones’ presence on the field was valuable both as a runner and a receiver. With Jones on the sideline and backups Jamaal Williams and A.J. Dillion both out due to COVID, Green Bay will be even more unbalanced against the 49ers. The good news is Aaron Rodgers is still Green Bay’s quarterback and his connection with Davante Adams is tough to slow down once it gets going. Adams had seven catches last week against Minnesota, three of which went for touchdowns, but he only had 53 receiving yards. The leading receiver was tight end Robert Tonyan, who had five catches for 79 yards and hybrid tight end Jace Sternberger had three catches for 46 yards. Rodgers knows how to spread out defenses and use his weapons effectively, even if he doesn’t have a go-to target outside of Adams and Tonyan. San Francisco is going to try to win this game that same way it won the NFC title last season, by running over the Packers defense. Without Kittle, the 49ers are without a true No. 1 receiver, and though Nick Mullens is accurate, he’s not someone who can make the big play. The strength of the San Francisco offense has always been with its running game and that means relying on its rotating cast of backs to get the job done. Jamycal Hasty struggled last week against Seattle while gaining a majority of the carries and Tevin Coleman looked sharp on his three touches. If one or both of those backs can get going against this Packers defense, it will take a lot of pressure off Mullens to match Rodgers’ output. The 49ers should be able to find some success, too, considering Dalvin Cook ran for 163 yards and three scores last week to propel Minnesota to a victory. When it comes to the points total for this contest, I don’t know what to think about these two offenses. I don’t trust Mullens to have much success in the air against the Packers, but I could see the 49ers running all over Green Bay like it did last year in the playoffs. Green Bay will be very unbalanced without all its running backs, but Rodgers and Adams can easily score three or four times again in this game. The over/under is set at 50.5 points by the NFL betting sites in New Jersey, but the odds skew in favor of taking the over. I don’t trust the Packers to slow down the 49ers rushing attack nor do I think San Francisco can hamper Rodgers and the Packers passing game. So I’ll bet the over 50.5 total points at +100 odds. Packers to win The Packers are 4.5-point favorites over the 49ers on Thursday, and quite frankly this seems pretty low. Green Bay will be down most of its running backs, but Adams and Rodgers are both still suiting up, so the Packers should be just fine. The 49ers are far more beat up, especially on offense, which puts a lot of pressure on the running game to replicate what it did during the playoffs last year. We saw what Dalvin Cook was able to do to Green Bay last week, which leaves me skeptical, but I still believe in Rodgers and the offense to outscore the 49ers’ banged-up crew. I think Green Bay wins by at least a touchdown, so I’m taking the Packers laying 7.5 points at +135 odds at the New Jersey online sports betting sites.
