The San Francisco 49ers are poised to be underdogs for the first time since 2022, breaking a chain of 36 consecutive regular-season games in which they've been favored, the third-longest such streak of the Super Bowl era behind only the 1999-2002 St. Louis Rams (50) and the 2016-20 New England Patriots (64).
The Green Bay Packers were 5.5-point favorites over the visiting Niners on Friday, per ESPN BET odds, after Kyle Shanahan announced Brandon Allen would replace injured Brock Purdy as the starting quarterback. Defensive end Nick Bosa was also ruled out. The Packers began Friday as 3-point favorites prior to the announcement of Purdy and Bosa being out.
The last time the 49ers were underdogs was in a Week 7 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 23, 2022. San Francisco was just a 1-point underdog in that one but went on to lose 44-23.
This season's iteration of the Niners has stumbled to records of 5-5 straight up and 4-6 against the spread. San Francisco failed to cover -6.5 in a Week 10 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Niners (+325) trail the Arizona Cardinals (-115) on the odds board to win the NFC West, the first time San Francisco has not been favored to win the division at any point over the past two seasons, per ESPN Research.
Green Bay moved from a consensus -1.5 to -3 in the betting markets with new that Purdy (shoulder), Bosa (out) and offensive tackle Trent Williams (ankle) were in danger of missing Sunday's contest. Williams was listed as questionable on Friday's injury report.
John Murray, executive director of the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said this week on the "Chicken Dinner" podcast that the book took sharp money on the Packers -2.5 after the injury news.
With Purdy out, it will preserve a different streak: The 24-year-old has been favored in all of his 31 regular-season starts, the longest such mark by any quarterback to begin a career in the Super Bowl era.