Saints vs 49ers, Week 2 Monday Night Football Preview

Corey Rudd Monday, September 20, 2010 NFL

Tonight the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints march into northern California to take on the San Francisco 49ers under the lights in prime time.

After Week 1, we know the Saints are back after they defeated the Minnesota Vikings at home and look just as good as last year.

The 49ers came into this season as the "sexy pick" to make it to the Super Bowl out of the NFC, but got trounced by an unimpressive Seattle Seahawk team in Week 1. And that is why this game is so hard to pick. The 49ers are getting 6.5 points at home. 6.5 points!

So, what do we make of this game. Will the Saints just steamroll the 49ers? Are the 49ers dead under Singletary, who's disciplinarian old school style just may not work with this young group of talented players that tend to beat their own drum (yes I'm talking about you Michael Crabtree!)

It comes down to this game being a MUST WIN for the 49ers and here is why...

Its a MUST WIN for QB Alex Smith. The former 1st rounder was fantastic at the end of last season and built a wonderful rapport with TE Vernon Davis. But Week 1 Smith was brutal and if doesn't want to join the likes of Ryan Leaf, David Carr, and JaMarcus Russell on a less than impressive list of former 1st round QB's that stunk, then he must play well tonight because he may not have a job if he doesn't.

This is a MUST WIN for RB Frank Gore. Gore has been fantastic his entire career. He has been electric both carrying the ball and catching the it out of the back field for 6 seasons in San Francisco. The problem is he is in 6th season! His shelf life is almost over. He needs to win NOW. Without leading the 49ers on a deep playoff run, Gore's career will go highly unnoticed and he will not receive the credit he is due for being the all-around gifted football player that he is.

Finally, this is MUST WIN for head coach Mike Singletary. Much has been publicized about problems in the 49er locker room with rats leaking information to the press and players getting into it with each other, most notable TE Vernon Davis and WR Michael Crabtree.

Week 1 also presented a problem where plays weren't getting to QB Alex Smith on time, which is directly the coaches fault. Singletary needs to win this game to win his players back. He needs to get this train going back in the right direction and nothing will do so more than beating the defending Super Bowl Champs at home on Monday Night Football.

And that is exactly why we are taking the points and the 49ers. I don't know if Singletary can actually pull this off, but I know he'll have his team playing hard in this MUST WIN and at the very least make it close. I'll take the 6.5 points because the 49ers will keep it close and the Saints are just that good! New Orleans 27 San Francisco 23.