The San Francisco 49ers will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to face the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium for week 1 of the NFL Preseason. The game will kick off at 7:00 PM ET on Saturday evening.
The San Francisco 49ers were the best team in the NFC last season, as they finished the regular season with an overall record of 12-5, the best record in the NFC Conference. The 49ers started the season strong as they won their first five games. However, they would lose their next three games to have a record of 5-3 at the midpoint of the 2023 NFL season.
Following their 5-3 start to the year, San Francisco would win seven of their final nine games before entering the NFC Playoffs as the 1 seed. The 49ers trailed most of the game in the Divisional round matchup against the Green Bay Packers. They would trail 21-14 in the 4th quarter before scoring 10 unanswered points and advancing to the NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions.
However, they would trail again for the majority of the NFC Championship game as they trailed 24-7 at halftime before scoring 17 points in the 3rd quarter to tie the game at 24-24 and would outscore the Lions 10-7 in the 4th quarter to advance to the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs before losing in Super Bowl LVIII in overtime by a score of 22-25. The 49ers were above .500 in the regular season at covering the spread with a record of 9-8 ATS, including 6-3 ATS on the road.
There's a new regime in Tennessee after the Titans finished in last place in the AFC South with a record of 6-11, which would lead to the Titans missing the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive season and eventually the firing of Mike Vrabel and the hiring of Brian Callahan. The Titans leader for nearly a decade offensively, Derrick Henry, is no longer the starting running back for Tennessee as he left in free agency to join the Baltimore Ravens. Tennessee will be a team implementing a more balanced offensive philosophy this season.
It will be led by 2nd year-starting quarterback Will Levis, who had a solid but unspectacular season as a rookie, completing 149 of 255 attempts for 1,808 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions. The Titans also had a losing record at covering the spread with a record of 7-9-1 ATS overall. However, they had one of the best records ATS at home at 5-2-1.
With both teams playing in opposite conferences, they only play each other once every four years. The most recent regular-season meeting came in the 2021 NFL season and resulted in a 20-17 win for the Tennessee Titans at home. The Titans have dominated the last five games of the series at covering the spread, compiling a record of 4-1 ATS in those matchups.
The 49ers have dominated the series, winning nine of the previous 13 games. However, the Titans have been the better team at covering the spread, as they have gone 4-1 ATS in the last five games in the series. Tennessee has also covered the spread in four of the previous five home games in the series. As a result, I am buying the .5 point and laying the 4 points with the Tennessee Titans when they host the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL Preseason on Saturday night.
