Sunday Night Football best prop bets for Chargers vs 49ers, Week 10
By Jason Reed
The LA Chargers are on the road in primetime in Week 10 as the team will take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football. Los Angeles is coming off of a gritty win over the Atlanta Falcons while San Francisco is coming off of a bye and is seeing a lot of returning players this week.
The Bolts have two consecutive primetime games that could make or break the season. If the Chargers can manage to beat the 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs then they will propel to 7-3 on the year with players returning from injury. However, they could also dig themselves a big hole with two primetime losses.
The 4-4 49ers, meanwhile, are looking to pick up momentum with players returning from injury and Christian McCaffrey now on the roster. The team is currently 1.5 games back of Seattle but has a head-to-head win over Geno Smith and co.
This is a big game for both teams and could be for Sunday Night Football bettors as well. We already broke down our prediction against the spread and over/under, let's now dive into the best prop bets that you should be considering.
All odds are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook and are subject to change after the time of publication.
1. 49ers prop bet: First quarter -1.5 (-120)
The LA Chargers made history in Week 9, becoming just the third team in league history to have a 10+-point deficit in the first quarter in four games in a row. While some might say that the streak is eventually going to snap, this first quarter still could be ugly for the Chargers.
The Bolts have been horrible slow starters this season while the 49ers are one of the best teams in the entire league when it comes to scripted plays, which are what the first 1-2 drives entirely consist of.
The Chargers are one of only eight teams to have scored one or fewer offensive touchdowns in the first quarter all season. The 49ers are 10th in the NFL in total touchdowns in the first quarter.
2. Austin Ekeler prop bet: OVER 40.5 receiving yards (-114)
The Chargers' wide receiving room is extremely banged-up. It consists of Joshua Palmer, DeAndre Carter and a bunch of practice squad receivers. It might have been good enough against the Atlanta defense, which is one of the worst in the league, but it will not be good enough against the 49ers.
Austin Ekeler has been consistent as a check-down option for Justin Herbert and with so much pressure coming at Herbert in this game, expect Ekeler to get the ball with a chance to pick up YAC yards a lot in this game.
Ekeler has gone over 40.5 receiving yards in five of eight games this season and has 29 receptions alone in the last three weeks. At that average, Ekeler would only need to average around 4.6 yards per reception to hit 41 yards. He is averaging 6.4 yards per reception this season.
3. Christian McCaffrey prop bet: OVER 82.5 rushing yards (-114)
The Chargers don't just rank dead last in the league in yards per carry but they are historically bad, allowing 5.7 yards per attempt. That is not a typo. The 49ers are a run-heavy team and are going to exploit that to the fullest in this game.
Christian McCaffrey got 18 hand-offs in his second game with the 49ers once he was integrated into the offense and played a healthy snap count. If he gets 18 carries in this game, with how poorly the Chargers defend the run, he will finish with over 100 yards.
If you can find a prop bet for a 49ers backup running back (assuming the rushing total is around 20 yards) I would also hammer that as well as any back is going to have success against this Chargers defense. If you really want to get interesting, you can take McCaffrey on an alternate line of 100 rushing yards at +182.
An Ekeler-McCaffrey parlay would pay out +236. A parlay with the alternate McCaffrey total would pay out +377. If we get really interesting, and take an Ekeler alternate total of 50+ receiving yards, it would pay out +497, just under five-to-one.