NFL lines, Week 1: 5 best bets
By John Buhler
3. San Francisco 49ers (+5.5) vs. Carolina Panthers
These two teams met last year in Charlotte thanks to the NFC South playing the NFC West in its entirety. Now we’ll have a rematch in Santa Clara between the two worst teams in their respective divisions from a year ago in the Carolina Panthers and the San Francisco 49ers.
On the road, Carolina is laying 5.5 points to the rebuilding 49ers. At first glance, yes, this makes sense. Carolina feels like a team on the rebound after going 6-10 a year ago after making it to the Super Bowl in 2015. However, the 49ers are not going to be walked all over like the NFL did to them a year ago. They have a new coaching staff in place led by former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
Shanahan beat Carolina three straight times in his two years calling plays for the Falcons offense. Though he doesn’t have anywhere near the personnel he had in Atlanta, he will devise a game plan to help this young 49ers offense hold their own at home against Carolina. General manager John Lynch is in charge of rebuilding this defense. He’s seem to have done a fine job already, landing Solomon Thomas and Reuben Foster in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Not saying that the 49ers will upset the Panthers at home, but this could very well be a game decided by a field goal or less. Keep in mind that Carolina is a defense-first football team that typically plays in low-scoring games. Should Panthers quarterback Cam Newton struggle with his accuracy, this could be the biggest upset of the weekend in the NFL.