Opening 49ers vs Titans Odds and Betting Lines for Thursday Night Football Week 16

• The San Francisco 49ers are opening as 3-point road favorites over the Tennessee Titans in the NFL’s Week 16 edition of TNF, slated for Thursday, December 23
• AFC North-leading Tennessee has lost three of the last four games
• Red-hot San Francisco is 5-1 over the past six games

In San Francisco, the 49ers are striking fear into the rest of the NFC that they will prove a dangerous playoff foe. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Titans still lead the AFC North but strike fear into no one beyond their own fan base.

These two NFL teams apparently heading in opposite directions will clash in the Week 16 TNF showdown. Not surprisingly, it’s the visiting 49ers who are getting the love from the sportsbooks over the hometown Titans.

San Francisco is opening as a 3-point road favorite. No NFL team has won more times against the spread as a road favorite than the Niners. They’re 4-2 in that scenario this season.

49ers vs Titans Odds

Odds as of December 19th at FanDuel.

Kickoff for Thursday’s game at Nissan Stadium is set for 8:20pm ET. Cloudy skies, 14 mph wind and a 59 degree temperature are in the forecast. FOX Sports will providing the broadcast.

San Francisco 49ers Betting Trends

Crushing the Atlanta Falcons 31-13, the 49ers won for the fifth time in six games to improve to 8-6. The Niners also strengthened their hold on the second NFC Wild Card position. They are now given a 91% probability of making the playoffs

It was the fourth time in six games that San Fran put at least 30 points up on the scoreboard. The 49ers have scored at least 20 points in each of the past six games.

.@stevekornacki breaks down what the Niners' playoff picture looks like right now pic.twitter.com/LGnQF3NBmu

— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) December 17, 2021

The 49ers have rushed for 20 TDs this season, adding three more in Sunday’s win over Atlanta. Interestingly, wide receiver Deebo Samuel has run for a TD in five successive games. He has seven rushing TDs to go with his five reception TDs.

Defensively, edge rusher Nick Bosa has sacks in six straight games. That’s the longest streak by a 49ers player since Aldon Smith posted sacks in seven straight games in 2012. With 15 sacks, Bosa is 4.5 sacks shy of Smith’s franchise record 19.5 sacks set that season.

Tennessee Titans Betting Trends

As poorly as they’ve played of late, a win Sunday over the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers would’ve enabled Tennessee to maintain status as the #1 seed in the AFC. Instead, the Titans squandered a 10-point lead and let the 7-6-1 Steelers rally for a 19-13 victory.

Three second-half Tennessee turnovers on successive possessions led to a trio of Steelers field goals that ended up turning the tide in the game. Tennessee’s defense held the Steelers to 168 yards of total offense and the Titans still managed to lose the contest.

Are the Titans still haunted by the curse of the terrible towel?

After they stomped on the towel in 2008,
– Upset by No. 6 Ravens in playoffs
– Steelers went on to win Super Bowl
– Steelers won the next 3 meetings

Titans vs. @steelers | Sun. 1 pm ET | CBS & @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/W2P74H6R25

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) December 18, 2021

Tennessee’s only win over the past four games was against the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars. At the same time, among the Titans’ losses was a setback to the equally woeful Houston Texans.

The Titans still lead the AFC South by a game over the Indianapolis Colts and hold the tiebreaker with Indy. But 9-5 Tennessee is now one game behind the 10-4 Kansas City Chiefs for top spot in the conference.

Titans-49ers Likely Line Movement

It looks as though the oddsmakers have pretty much nailed what the line should be on this game. Considering Tennessee’s poor run of late, it’s difficult to imagine bettors are going to feel confident backing the Titans in this game.

Kyle Shanahan told his team they are not celebrating the win vs. the Falcons tonight. They are on a short week and can celebrate on Thursday night after beating the Titans. #49ers

— 49ers Webzone (@49erswebzone) December 20, 2021

On the other hand, making a division leader more than a 3-point underdog on their home field seems equally unlikely. Don’t anticipate much movement in this line.