NFL Week 2 continues with the highly anticipated clash between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.

The defending NFC champions dominated their Week 1 game against the New York Jets, securing a 32-19 victory over a team led by Aaron Rodgers, who made his return from an Achilles tendon injury. Quarterback Brock Purdy completed 19 of 29 pass attempts for 231 yards and added 11 rushing yards in Monday’s win. The 49ers achieved the victory without star running back Christian McCaffrey, who didn’t play in a last-minute decision due to a calf injury. The star running back has also been ruled out against the Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings are coming off a Week 1 victory against the New York Giants. Veteran quarterback Sam Darnold, who left the San Francisco 49ers to sign a one-year deal worth $ 10 million with the Vikings, put up an impressive performance. He completed 19 of 24 passes for 208 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the 28-6 victory over the Giants.

Here are the latest odds and predictions for the Week 2 matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings.

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NFL Week 2: San Francisco 49ers vs. Minnesota Vikings odds, moneyline, over/under

The San Francisco 49ers are favorites to defeat the Minnesota Vikings, according to the BetMGM NFL odds. Looking to wager? Check out the best mobile sports betting apps offering NFL betting promos in 2024 including the ESPN BET app and Fanatics Sportsbook promo code.

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• Spread: 49ers (-5.5)
• Moneyline: 49ers (-230); Vikings (+195)
• Over/under: 46.5

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NFL Week 2: San Francisco 49ers vs. Minnesota Vikings predictions and picks

ESPN’s Seth Walder: 49ers 31, Vikings 24

Walder writes: “49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk will record 100-plus receiving yards. One bad week, we can chalk up to rust — he had just two catches for 28 yards in the 49ers’ opener. But I don’t see the weak numbers lasting long because Aiyuk is just too good: He was the No. 1 WR in ESPN’s receiver tracking metric’s overall score last season for a reason.”

CBS Sports: 49ers but proceed with caution

Garrett Podell writes: “San Francisco certainly has the matchups to prevail on Sunday and improve to 2-0, but a Sam Darnold and Aaron Jones revenge game with a healthy Justin Jefferson could potentially prove to be tougher than anticipated. Jones ran for 108 rushing yards on 18 carries for a six yards per carry average in the Green Bay Packers’ 24-21 NFC Divisional Round loss at the 49ers in January. Minnesota has enough credible matchups, plus some voodoo (if you believe in superstitious things), when this matchup takes place at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sunday afternoon between these two squads should be top tier programming in the NFL’s 1 p.m. ET Week 2 slate.”

Pickswise: San Francisco 49ers

Kevin Davies writes: “The Vikings had the perfect Week 1. First of all, they were fortunate enough to play the Giants. Daniel Jones looked just as sharp as normal, which is about as sharp as a marble, and Minnesota came away with the 28-6 win. The Vikings defense was putting pressure on Jones all game and that resulted in 5 sacks and 2 interceptions. On offense, Sam Darnold looked fantastic and he was unsurprisingly targeting Justin Jefferson throughout the game. However, we have to put this win into perspective. New York is expected to have one of the worst offenses to go with a severely below-average defense in 2024. It would have been concerning if Minnesota didn’t stomp on the Giants. Now the Vikings have to go from facing Daniel Jones and Malik Nabers to Brock Purdy and Deebo Samuel. The difference is night and day, and San Francisco should demonstrate that by covering the touchdown spread on Sunday.”

Doc Sports: Take the Vikings

Guy Bruhn writes: “The Vikings are relinquishing 6.0 points per game, which has them sitting 1st of all teams in the NFL. They have allowed 0 touchdowns through the air in addition to 166.0 yards/outing, which has them in 16th in the NFL. Minnesota has surrendered a total of 74 yards on the ground. The Vikings defense has taken part in 68 plays, which ranks 25th in the league. They have compiled 2 turnovers on the year.”

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — There are some signs of improvement in San Francisco’s Union Square, which has seen a significant loss of retailers in the past four years.

The area is now seeing an uptick in new businesses moving in. Several big-name stores have just opened and more are expected by the end of the month.

If you are looking for a Rolex watch, you can now find it on Post Street in Union Square.

The new Rolex store opened last month.

Despite the many “for lease” signs in the Union Square area, Kazuko Morgan, executive vice chair for commercial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, says there’s a lot going on there right now.

MORE: SF’s Saks Fifth Avenue shifting to ‘appointment-only’ shopping, announces layoffs, report says

“There are several other tenants that have signed leases or are in lease negotiations in Union Square,” Morgan said.

Morgan helps find tenants for exclusive retail spaces in Union Square.

“Rolex opened a few weeks ago. Patek Phillip is opening this month. St. John’s relocated from the Four Seasons to Post Street,” Morgan said.

Christopher Clark gallery relocated from Geary Street to Post Street. Max Mara is under construction and will open by the end of the month.

Morgan says a lot of new businesses are expanding or moving into Union Square.

MORE: SF’s Union Square: How it’s doing 1 year after new zoning regulations went into effect

“A lot of work was done over the last year in terms of getting leases done,” Morgan said.

Downtown San Francisco continues to grapple with record-high office vacancy rates. During the second quarter of this year, it was nearly 37%.

In Union Square though, the vacancy rate during the same period was nearly 22% according to Cushman and Wakefield.

Morgan says spaces are leased or in negotiation, even though the signs have not been taken down.

Next year, a new Nintendo store will go up at 331 Powell Street in Union Square.

MORE: SF Union Square on path to economic recovery: Here are the signs and roadblocks

As for the San Francisco Macy’s flagship store, that’s expected to stay open until the property is sold.

Macy’s released this statement saying:

“Macy’s Union Square remains open as the Fall and Holiday Season draws near…We are working in close partnership with the Mayor’s Office and others as we explore options for this location.”

Morgan says people often think San Francisco is a challenging market to enter, that it’s expensive or that the best locations have been taken.

But not now.

MORE: SF’s Saks Fifth Avenue shifting to ‘appointment-only’ shopping, announces layoffs, report says

“For the first time in my career, there’s a lot of good opportunity for brands, and landlords are most flexible we’ve ever seen,” Morgan said.

Mayor London Breed’s Office released this statement Friday saying:

“Mayor Breed looks forward to continue to build on the momentum we are seeing from businesses and corporations that are investing in Union Square and in San Francisco’s future, including Breitling, Nintendo, and Visa.”

Morgan and others hope the momentum continues for business to survive and thrive in Union Square.

On the cusp of being officially eliminated from the 2024 MLB postseason race, the San Francisco Giants are going to just be playing out this final stretch in what has been a very disappointing campaign.

The most important thing for the team over the final few weeks of the year will be getting their young guys as much experience as possible at the Major League level.

That will improve the team’s overall outlook heading into 2025, and potentially fill some holes that may need to be addressed.

One of the players who will be looking to finish the season strong is pitcher Hayden Birdsong.

The starting pitcher had a great start to his Major League career, recording a 2.97 ERA over six appearances. Unfortunately, he has spent the majority of the second half trying to find his way again.

In six conseucitve starts beginning on July 27, he failed to complete five innings. His ERA was a ghastly 8.31 and he went 0-5.

Lack of command with his fastball was dooming him. Self-inflicted damage was piling up as he walked 20 batters over 21.2 innings. Giving the opponents scoring opportunities and rapidly building up his pitch count led to an inability to work deep into games.

That was something he wanted to change, and quickly.

Ahead of his start on Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Birdsong revealed the goal he had for the rest of the 2024 season.

“I just want to eat innings and stop killing the bullpen,” he said last week per MLB.com.

Not many people were expecting that to happen against the Brewers, who are running away with the National League Central and are closing in on clinching a playoff berth.

But, that is exactly what happened.

Against the strong opponent, Birdsong had the best start of his career. He was able to find a rhythm, tossing five shutout innings and needing only 68 pitches to do it.

Four strikeouts were recorded as he scattered two hits and one walk. Getting ahead of batters was key to his success.

He threw a first-pitch strike to 11 out of 17 batters. That 65% clip was a major improvement from the 46.7% he had over his last six outings.

A first-pitch strike is essentially what determines the at-bat for Birdsong.

As shared by Maria Guardado of MLB.com, “… opposing batters entered Thursday with a .642 OPS when they’ve fallen behind 0-1 against him, compared to a .910 OPS when they’ve gotten ahead 1-0.”

If the young righty can get ahead in the count, he is putting opponents at a distinct disadvantage.

“It was nice to actually just be in the zone from first pitch to last pitch,” Birdsong said. “Obviously, I had a walk, but it didn’t bother me at that point because I was in the zone for the whole game. That’s all I really wanted to do. I want to keep doing that and keep showing that I can pitch through five and beyond. Today, I was really happy with what I did. Hopefully, we keep that going.”

The Giants were unable to take advantage of the strong start, as they lost the game 3-0, but the most important takeaway was that Birdsong showcased his immense talent against a very good opponent and could have built his confidence going forward after a rough stretch.