Predicting the Final Score of the 49ers-Jaguars Game

If the 49ers lose this one, they'll be in trouble.

Grant Cohn | Nov 11, 2023

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers absolutely cannot afford to lose this game to the Jaguars.

The 49ers are 5-3 after losing three in a row. Lose one more, and they'll be 5-4, on the brink of falling out of the playoff picture. Win, and the 49ers are 6-3 and back in business. Meanwhile, the Jaguars have won five in a row and are 6-2. If they lose, they'll be 6-3 and still in business. They don't need this game.

Advantage: 49ers.

The Jaguars have an excellent defense that held the Chiefs to just 17 points in Week 2, but Travis Kelce was playing through a knee injury in that game. Typically, the Jaguars defense struggles against tight ends, and George Kittle is coming off a nine-catch, 149-yard performance.

Advantage: 49ers.

The 49ers added Chase Young, who will boost their pass rush. But the Jaguars have one of the quickest passing games in the league, something a pass rush can't stop. And that's why the 49ers have struggled to defend quick passes this season. Their coverage has been much too soft.

Advantage: Jaguars.

The 49ers offense goes as Christian McCaffrey goes, and he'll be fresh coming off a bye week. Plus he should have Trent Williams to block for him. But the Jaguars have an exceptionally stout run defense that has allowed just 3.6 yards per carry - fourth fewest in the league.

Advantage: Jaguars.

Brock Purdy has committed six turnovers in the past three games -- five interceptions and one fumble. Now he has to face a defense that leads the league in takeaways with 18 -- 11 interceptions and 7 forced fumbles. If Purdy truly is a turnover machine, he'll show it in this game.

Advantage: Jaguars.

The 49ers offense is almost fully healthy and needs to take over like it did during the five-game win streak. But the Jaguars have an elite defense that will make the 49ers one-dimensional. And the Jaguars offense will do just enough against a 49ers defense that has yet to find its identity this season.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION: 49ers 20, Jaguars 24.

Published Nov 11, 2023

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.