With nine weeks complete, the league has officially crossed the midway point of this year’s campaign. From the playoff chase to individual awards, very little is settled, with several teams still having ample opportunity to begin an ascent that could lead all the way to the postseason. And if Thursday night’s thriller between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens is any indication, the final two months of the season should feature several scintillating showdowns.

With all that in mind, here are bold predictions for NFL Week 10 games from several of USA TODAY Sports’ writers and editors:

Christian McCaffrey will score 2 TDs…and produce more receiving yards than rushing yards

Christian McCaffrey makes his long-awaited 2024 debut for the 49ers at Tampa Bay with a bang. While Jordan Mason proved to be a more-than-capable fill-in to keep the running game intact (685 yards, 5.3 per carry), the NFL’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year will remind us just how lethal of a multi-tasking weapon he is out of the backfield. The 49ers sorely missed CMC’s impact in the passing game – which was needed even more with the injuries that struck San Francisco’s receivers corps. Well, as McCaffrey gets well from his Achilles setback, so do Brock Purdy’s numbers in the passing game as his ace running back not only runs routes as well as a polished wide receiver but opens up windows for other targets. I’m expecting that CMC will strike paydirt twice on Sunday with his fresh legs and crack 100 yards from scrimmage on the turf in Tampa — with more than half the output coming in the passing game.

— Jarrett Bell