The Black Hole could be seeing red on Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers visit the O.co Coliseum to take on the crosstown Oakland Raiders. To call this a rivalry is misleading; even with the Niners' struggles of late, this is a matchup between two teams going in opposite directions.
At least for this season.
The Raiders are just 1-11, and come in as 9.5-point underdogs on their home turf against the 7-5 49ers, according to OddsShark. Despite an inability to string together wins, Oakland may have finally found a quarterback worth keeping. Derek Carr has shown glimpses of what the team hopes could be a viable NFL skill set. The trouble is that the Raiders have 21 other positions to evaluate, and that's going to take some time.
Jim Harbaugh's team, led by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, has substantial issues of its own. Despite returning its core group from a season ago in which it was one play away from a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance, San Francisco has been in the midst of turmoil all season long, on and off the field.
Injuries and controversy have surrounded them, but the Niners are hoping the Raiders can be the cure, at least temporarily.
The experts at Yahoo Sports feel San Francisco will get it done and fight on in its playoff push. All eight members of CBS Sports' team view San Francisco as the victor. ESPN sees it the same way with a 13-0 sweep in favor of the Niners.
SB Nation doesn't waver, either. All seven gurus and the OddsShark computer have the 49ers winning it and the Raiders falling to 1-12.
Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | PFT Commenter | Matt Ufford | OddsShark Computer | |
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