By Joe Lami

The San Francisco 49ers are coming off of possibly their worse loss of the season with last week’s 24-10 embarrassment to the Cleveland Browns. A combination of the nine sacks allowed with the 230 run yards allowed equates the loss to possibly the worse of the Jed York era. Especially since the Niners were coming off of their biggest comeback win of the season and were flying high off of the Chicago win.

This week, they’re matched up against the other team from Ohio, the Cincinnati Bengals. Originally set for a 5:30 start, the game has been flexed out of the prime-time slot. The 49ers should be especially happy about this since it is in my opinion that they are going to be embarrassed on Sunday.

The Bengals are coming in with a loss to the Steelers and with their backup QB, AJ McCarron. The 10-3 Bengals should be able to run all over the 49ers, as they hope to punch their ticket to the NFL postseason with a win. McCarron will be making his first career start after Andy Dalton broke his thumb last week.

His primary target will be A.J. Green, who has caught 76 passes for 1,169 yards and eight touchdowns on the season. A possible secondary target, tight end Tyler Eifert has been ruled out for the contest on Sunday.

On the other side of the ball will be Blaine Gabbert for San Francisco. Coming off of nine sacks to the Browns, he will be run around the field this Sunday as Cincinnati is one of the leaders in sacks with 34 on the year. With Alex Boone also out for the rest of the year, things don’t look good for the 49ers offense.

Prediction

Bengals 30 49ers: 7