The New Orleans Saints are no longer the laughing stock of the league. They won the Super Bowl last year, and earned a big victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1.

They now will travel to face the San Francisco 49ers, trying open the season 2-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history. The 49ers will try to stop the bleeding after a 6-31 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in their opener. NFL odds are set for this game, showing New Orleans -5.5 over San Francisco with a total set of 44 points.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Saints won 14-9 over Minnesota last Thursday in defense of their title. It was actually the fewest points the Saints have scored en route to victory under Sean Payton. But Drew Brees still had a great game, going 27-of-36 passing while hitting Devery Henderson early on a 29-yard touchdown strike.

New Orleans also took care of the ball, not committing a single turnover. The offensive line was stout, allowing just one sack to a Vikings defense that was the best pass-rushing unit in the league last season.

Payton was pleased with his team’s effort, but the same cannot be said for San Francisco head coach Mike Singletary.

Their 6-31 loss to the Seahawks was perhaps the most shocking of any in Week 1. The 49ers didn’t score a touchdown for the first time in 19 games, and they were held to just 49 yards rushing. Alex Smith threw two interceptions that rally hurt his team, and the Seahawks put up 28 points during a seven-minute span that really swung the game in their favor.

Seattle also came up with two huge stops with the 49ers inside the 5-yard line, limiting them to a pair of field goals early.

“I said, ‘You know what, we’re going to get together and get this all ironed,’” Singletary said. “‘We can look at the game for what it is as a team and learn from it, put it behind us, and get on to New Orleans.”

Though the 49ers are riding a long playoff drought, they haven’t started a season 0-2 since 2004. San Francisco has also lost five straight games to the Saints in this head-to-head series, so they’ll certainly want some payback here.

Drew Brees led the Saints to a 31-17 home victory the last time they faced the 49ers, throwing for 363 yards and three touchdowns. For his career, Brees is 4-0 while throwing for 1,221 yards and 10 touchdowns to just two interceptions.

Jack’s Free Prediction

 Saints/49ers under 44—I look for this to be a defensive battle and for the 49ers to try and slow the game down with their running game. New Orleans has a very efficient offense that keeps the ball for long drives and they can also run the football with the best of them. There will be more field goals than touchdowns in this game, as each defense buckles down in the red zone.

I’ll side with the under Monday night.

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