Seahawks vs. 49ers odds: Jim Harbaugh declines to cover the point spread

For a moment, the San Francisco 49ers covered the spread. Jim Harbaugh's team entered the game as 7.5-point favorites. They beat the spread, or could have done so, in the final minutes of an NFC West showdown with the Seattle Seahawks thanks to a penalty in the end zone, resulting in a safety. Jim Harbaugh, however, had other ideas and declined it, taking the result of the play -- which came up just short of a first down -- instead.

The safety happened on a play where Seattle lineman Paul McQuistan was flagged for an illegal block on 4th-and-17 . Harbaugh declined the penalty, so that he could get the ball back and run out the clock with a 13-6 lead over Pete Carroll.

If you're not a numbers person, then try to understand it from crazy Jim Harbaugh's point of view. Getting the ball back took ALL of the risk out of the outcome. Seattle might have gone for an onside kick following the safety and the various randomness that can result from those live grenades.

Or maybe he just had money on the game.