49ERS RIP RAMS TO MOVE TO 3-1

If the NFL hasn’t already noticed, here’s some news—the San Francisco 49ers have become a pretty good football team.  One week after a heartbreaking last minute loss at Minnesota, San Francisco got back on the winning track in a big way by throttling the hapless St. Louis Rams 35-0.  After a scoreless first quarter, the Niners led 7-0 at halftime.  In the second half, they poured it on scoring 14 points in each of the final two quarters.  The Niners improved to 3-1 on the NFL season, while St. Louis dropped to 0-4.

An important concept to successfully bet on NFL football is to not ask mediocre teams to cover big pointspreads.  That may have scared some NFL betting enthusiasts off backing the Niners as -9’ home favorites, but their financial supporters got the last laugh as San Francisco easily covered that number.  The 49ers are now 3-1 against the spread, while St. Louis dropped to 1-3 against the number.  With the loss, the Rams’ ATS record within their own division slumped to 3-11 in the past three NFL seasons.  The 35 points put on the board went UNDER the posted total of 36’.  Both teams have now gone UNDER in three of four regular season games this season.  4 of the last 5 head to head meetings between the two teams have also played UNDER the total.

Despite the absence of the Niners’ star running back Frank Gore, the San Fran offense maintained their well balanced potency.  Tight end Vernon Davis caught his third touchdown in the past two weeks, and the defense did their part with a 23 yard interception return for a touchdown.  The Rams’ offense continued to sputter, and the team has only scored a total of 24 points in four games this season for a woeful 6 points per game average.  It was San Francisco’s first shutout in 119 games, dating back to the 2002 season.

With the Detroit Lions finally putting a victory in the win column last week, St. Louis has officially taken over as the worst team in the NFL.  The Rams have now lost fourteen straight games, the longest active losing streak in the NFL.  They were also shutout for the second time on Sunday, having dropped their season opener 28-0 in Seattle.

St. Louis will return home for a game against the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday as they look to end their losing run.  They’ll play at Jacksonville the following week before returning home on October 25th to face the Indianapolis Colts.  San Francisco will host the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday before enjoying a bye weekend.  They’ll return to action on October 25th as they travel to Houston for a game against the Texans.