Opening Line and Weather Report

The oddsmakers opened San Francisco as a 3-point home favorite earlier this week on Monday and the line later dropped to -2½ on Saturday morning. The Over/Under opened at 34½ and has risen to 35 in some locations.

The weather looks fantastic on Sunday evening in San Francisco with the temperature in the low 60’s with a light wind (9 mph) and a zero percent chance of rain.

Injury Update

Brett Favre has returned to the Vikings, but Minnesota is still short-handed at the wide receiver position as Percy Harvin was taken to the hospital this week after collapsing at practice with a migraine headache. Harvin is out indefinitely and WR Sidney Rice is currently on the physically unable to perform list with a hip injury. The defense is currently missing MLB E.J. Henderson and CB Cedric Griffin who are both out of the preseason and questionable for the regular season opener at New Orleans on September 9th.

San Francisco will probably be without WR Michael Crabtree who is doubtful with a neck injury and star TE Vernon Davis is also doubtful with a knee injury. The team is also short-handed at running back after the sudden and unexpected retirement of Glen Coffee last week.

He’s Back – Favre Attack

Guess who’s back? After reversing his retirement for the umpteenth time, Brett Favre returns to quarterback the Minnesota Vikings this season. And he’s suiting right up, as he is expected to start Sunday night’s game against San Francisco.

Despite missing over 3 weeks of training camp, head coach Brad Childress plans on playing Favre a couple of series after watching him workout over the last couple of days. ‘I think he's doing a good job of rounding into form,’ Childress said. ‘He has been throwing the football, there is no question about that. Just conditioning his legs. He's versed in our system and our calls.’

No Respect

After the Favre soap opera played out during the week, numerous stories were written that the Vikings, as a team, have little to no respect for head coach Brad Childress. This issue came to light last season when he and Favre had a heated argument on the sidelines after Childress pulled the quarterback from a game to rest.

And when recently asked if his players respect him, Childress responded with this: ‘You can ask Brett about that. You don't like it but you deal with it. You sit at the top, everybody knows who they are shooting at. So they can say whatever they want to say and make an argument for it.’

That sounds like a man who knows he’s not respected by his players. And now that Favre is back in the mix, it will be interesting to see which direction the Vikings head going forward. They were impressive in their 28-7 win last week in St. Louis, but that was pre-Favre return. Keep an eye on the coach-QB relationship over the next few weeks as it may go a long way in deciding how the Vikings season plays out.

Solid Rotation

San Francisco has one of the better preseason quarterback rotations in the league. Starter Alex Smith leads the way and his backup is journeyman David Carr who has started plenty of games in the NFL. Carr was ultra impressive in the 49ers 37-17 waxing of the Colts in Indianapolis. He completed 9 of 11 for 98 yards and a touchdown.

This week, third stringer Nate Davis is expected to see the majority of action under center. Davis was good in preseason games last year, and he played well against the Colts last week as he completed 5 of his 6 passes for 84 yards. Head coach Mike Singletary calls Davis ‘a work in progress’ so his performance on Sunday night against more experienced defensive players will tell us a lot about Davis’ future in the NFL.