The Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers are very familiar preseason partners, having faced off an incredible 38 times over the years. Since Mike Shanahan became head coach, the Broncos are a phenomenal 12-4 in these preseason matchups.
With the 49ers in full rebuild mode, the Broncos first-team defense should be able to shut their offense down. Beyond that, its depth against depth so anything can happen.
Game time
Kickoff is set for Saturday, August 19, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. Mile High time at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
TV schedule and TV channels
The game will air on KTVD (Channel 20) locally in Denver, Colorado with Ron Zappolo (play-by-play), Brian Griese (color analyst), and Rod Mackey (sideline reporting). It will also air live on NFL Network for out-of-market fans.
Online stream
NFL Game Pass offers live audio and re-airs after the game.
DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket has expanded its online streaming service. Verizon subscribers can watch games live with the NFL Mobile app (subscription required, and usual TV blackout rules apply even online).
For more information about streaming Broncos games, check out our comprehensive online streaming guide.
Radio
Colorado can listen on KOA (850 AM/94.1 FM) or The Fox (103.5 FM) with Dave Logan (play-by-play), Rick Lewis (color analyst) and Tyler Polumbus (sideline reporting).
Spanish radio KNVR (1150 AM) will also broadcast the game with Javier Olivias (play-by-play) and Carlos Valdez (color analyst).
Odds
If you are the kind of person who bets on preseason action, please get some help. If you ignore that kind of advice, the line for this game has the Broncos as 3-point road underdogs against the 49ers.
Quotable
John Elway offered positive words on the quarterbacks on Friday. He remains guarded and hopeful one of these quarterbacks will take over soon.
“It’s the next step,” Elway said of Paxton Lynch. “We hope we see him—we made some strides this week in practice. It’s been a good week of practice going against the 49ers, and so both of those guys, all three of [the quarterbacks] made steps. We want to see progress and the good thing is that’s what we’ve seen so far this week.”
Predictions
This game will come down to how well Paxton Lynch plays. He had a perfect practice session on Thursday, so if that carries over the Broncos should easily win this game. If not, then who knows.
I’m going to go with how the quarterbacks, Trevor Siemian included, have performed all offseason. Average. Kyle Sloter comes in and leads the Broncos to victory with a late field goal.
Prediction: Broncos 23, 49ers 20