Niners Dismantle Panthers to Return to NFC

The San Francisco 49ers are now one step away from a return to the Super Bowl.  On Sunday, San Francisco methodically dismantled the upstart Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, NC 23-10.  With the victory they earn a return visit to Seattle to face the Seahawks next Sunday for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

While the scoreline may not look overwhelmingly impressive the victory was vintage Niners football.  The San Francisco defense did a good job containing Carolina quarterback Cam Newton and forced him into a number of mistakes.  Newton was sacked five times and intercepted twice.  On offense, the Niners’ main weapons were all in good form.  Kaepernick was efficient when he threw the ball and elusive when he ran accounting for both of San Francisco’s touchdowns.  Phil Dawson added three field goals to produce the final score. The season is all set for people to bet on Super bowl XLVII on February 2, 2014.

The Panthers did claw ahead 10-6 in the second quarter by virtue of a Cam Newton touchdown pass and a Graham Gano 24 yard touchdown.  That would be all of the scoring for Carolina and after that it was all San Francisco.  The Panthers’ defense got good pressure on Colin Kapernick early in the game but the Niners adjusted well and Carolina’s success was short lived.

The 49ers easily covered the pointspread as short favorites of 1 or 1.5 points.  The 33 combined points went ‘Under’ the low total of 41.  It was the sixth pointspread total for San Francisco in their last 9 games (6-2-1 ATS).  Carolina went ‘Under’ the total for the eighth time in their last nine games.

San Francisco must now play a third game against the Seattle Seahawks who beat the New Orleans Saints on Saturday.  The teams split two regular season games with Seattle winning at home 29-3 early in the season and San Francisco winning a hard fought 19-17 verdict at Candlestick Park in early December.  The opening line for the Seattle/San Francisco NFC Championship game has the Seahawks a -3 point home favorite with the total set at 40.