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What makes the 49ers such a tepid favorite? There seem to be two main theories about this matchup. One is that the Giants are on their way to duplicating, four years after the fact, their last shocking underdog run to the Super Bowl—that despite a thoroughly mediocre regular season, fate and health and chemistry and a rampaging defensive line have all come together in a way that transcends the Giants' actual record, so that more qualified-seeming teams will part before them like the Red Sea, making them champions again. The other theory is that the 49ers, after years of awfulness and obscurity, won 13 games by being a good football team. Between the two, the magical-thinking scenario somehow strikes people as more plausible.