5 Bold Predictions for the San Francisco 49ers' Week 14 Matchup

It’s safe to say Thanksgiving weekend was something of a disaster for the football teams of the Bay Area.

The San Francisco 49ers, pumped up for a crucial rivalry game against the Seattle Seahawks, laid a total egg.  For the first time since 2009, the 49ers dropped a home game to the Seahawks, with the offense being completely shut down and embarrassed.  The 49ers certainly did not plan to end their Thanksgiving night with Richard Sherman eating a turkey on their logo in midfield.

On Sunday, the Oakland Raiders suffered their biggest loss in franchise history.  The St. Louis Rams absolutely destroyed Oakland to the tune of 52-0, riding 38 first-half points to the demolition.  The Raiders’ worst loss in NFL history had been a 45-0 pasting by the Buccaneers in 1999, while their worst loss in franchise history came back in 1967, when the Denver Broncos beat them 51-0.  They were bad enough that Derek Carr was pulled halfway through for Matt Schaub—and then Schaub played arguably worse.

The good news is that at least one of the two Bay Area teams should get back on track this week.  It actually would be in both teams' interests for the 49ers to win—they are still sitting with a realistic shot at making the playoffs, while the Raiders are trying to lock up the top pick in the 2015 draft.

Will that actually happen, or will both teams be damaged by an Oakland win?  Let’s go make some bold predictions as to what will happen Sunday afternoon.

Colin Kaepernick Will Bounce Back

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

It’s not too big of a stretch to call Kaepernick’s game against Seattle the worst in his NFL career.  The only game which trumps it, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced stats, was the Week 9 loss to St. Louis—and that was heavily impacted by the fumble on the goal line as time was expiring.  In terms of just passing, it’s actually tied with last year’s embarrassing loss to the Seahawks, in Week 2 in Seattle.

Kaepernick has a problem beating the Seahawks—but, then again, most teams seem to.  Remove Seattle from his numbers, and he’s shown improvement this year overall.  Here are his non-Seattle stats, playoffs included:

• 2012: 166 for 262 passing; 63.35% completion percentage; 2,368 yards; 13 touchdowns; 4 interceptions; 102.7 QB rating
• 2013: 246 for 417 passing; 58.99% completion percentage; 3,318 yards; 22 touchdowns; 5 interceptions;  96.98 QB rating
• 2014: 214 for 347 passing; 61.67% completion percentage; 2,615 yards; 15 touchdowns; 6 interceptions; 92.08 QB rating

Those aren’t bad numbers at all. I think you can definitely point to a minor step backwards this season, though how much of that is Kaepernick and how much is the poor play of the offensive line, dropped passes and questionable play-calling is an open question.

Is Kaepernick an elite quarterback at this point?  No, of course not.  What he is, at least when he’s not battling the Seattle Seahawks, is an Andy Dalton or an Eli Manning.  That’s not a bad asset to have—Dalton keeps bringing the Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs, while Manning has two Super Bowl rings to his name.

He’s not good enough, at this point, to overcome a poor situation, but he’s good enough to not lose the game for you.  Maybe this is his peak, and maybe it’s not—he’s still only started 44 regular-season games at this point—but even in the worst-case scenario, where this is the reality of Colin Kaepernick, he's an adequate NFL quarterback.  He won’t be the piece that ensures victory, but he can be part of a winning team.

Remember, too, that quarterbacks like Andy Dalton put up horrible numbers every now and again.  Remember Dalton’s terrible performance against Cleveland earlier this season?  Since then, he’s completed more than 70 percent of his passes for a QB rating in the 90s.  One horrible game does not a quarterback make.

I expect Kaepernick’s numbers against the Oakland Raiders to look much more like his season stats than his performance against Seattle was.  Honestly, if he can’t shred the Raiders, the cause for concern should increase.  I don’t think that will be an issue, however.

Derek Carr Will Throw for Less Than 200 Yards

Tom Gannam/Associated Press

Derek Carr has not been the worst rookie quarterback this season.  I think you have to give that award to Blake Bortles, considering he hasn’t had a solid game yet this season.  There have been a couple of sparks in Carr’s game—from Weeks 6 through 8, for example, he completed 58.6 percent of his passes for 261 yards a game, throwing five touchdowns and only one interception.  That’s good.  There’s room to build there.  I think Carr has done well enough that the Raiders would at least think twice before drafting a quarterback in the 2015 draft.

However, Carr’s been looking pretty bad as of late.  Here are his stats over his past five games—which, remember, includes his only NFL win over Kansas City:

• 112 of 196 passing
• 57.14% completion percentage
• 905 yards
• 5 touchdowns
• 6 interceptions
• 64.7 QB rating.

He hasn’t trumped 200 yards passing in a game since Week 8 and has thrown multiple interceptions in three of his past five games.  His showing against St. Louis was arguably his worst, as he just looked unsure of himself and tentative at times.  Six sacks will do that to you—there were times when it looked like he was feeling pressure before it ever got there.  Shell shock, almost.

That’s not going to get better against the 49ers’ pass rush.  I can’t see him opening it up and turning in one of his better performances, not with the 49ers being on the ropes.

Frank Gore Will Rush for 100 Yards

Bill Haber/Associated Press

Here are just a few of the running backs who have played against Oakland this season:

• Chris Johnson, Week 1: 13 carries, 68 yards
• Chris Ivory, Week 1: 10 carries, 102 yards
• Arian Foster, Week 2: 28 carries, 138 yards
• Stevan Ridley, Week 3: 19 carries, 54 yards
• Lamar Miller, Week 4: 12 carries, 64 yards
• Branden Oliver, Week 6: 26 carries, 101 yards
• Andre Ellington, Week 7: 24 carries, 88 yards
• Marshawn Lynch, Week 9: 21 carries, 67 yards
• C.J. Anderson, Week 10: 13 carries, 90 yards
• Ryan Mathews, Week 11: 16 carries, 70 yards
• Jamaal Charles, Week 12: 19 carries, 80 yards
• Tre Mason, Week 13: 14 carries, 117 yards

There’s room to run against the Raiders is what I’m saying here.  Only three times all year have they held their opponents under 100 rushing yards; they rank 27th overall in rushing defense.

Some of this, of course, is because teams are running against them to run out the clock; most of their games have seen them hopelessly behind with more than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.  That will pad any team’s running stats.  They’re actually not that bad at stopping the run when the game is still somewhat in doubt; players such as Khalil Mack, Justin Ellis and Justin Tuck have performed solidly this year.

Still, behind the likes of Joe Staley and Mike Iupati, I really think the 49ers are going to get things going on the ground this game.  Twenty carries or so for Gore on 10 days' rest should be more than enough to crack the century mark.

Khalil Mack Will Outplay Chris Borland

David Richard/Associated Press

Impartial observers will not be watching the 49ers/Raiders matchup, not with Seattle and Philadelphia going on simultaneously.  If they were watching the game, however, they’d see a matchup between two of the top rookie defenders in football.

Khalil Mack and Chris Borland, alongside St. Louis’ Aaron Donald, are arguably the top three candidates for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.  Mack has been starting from Week 1, and he has a strong argument for being the best player on Oakland’s entire roster at this point.  He’s been a monster against the run, and more than serviceable in the pass rush—he leads Oakland in quarterback hurries, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Meanwhile, Chris Borland has taken over for an injured Patrick Willis and has played brilliantly as well.  He already leads the team in tackles and stops, despite only starting since Week 7.  He’s played well enough that all of a sudden, the 49ers might need to make a decision about how to get all three middle linebackers on the field next season.

Mack, by benefit of starting the entire season, would be in the lead at the moment in my book.  Borland will have an argument if the 49ers make the playoffs while the Raiders and Rams stay home—contributing for a playoff team is usually considered more impressive than excelling for a horrible team.  Either way, both teams have to be thrilled with the contribution from their rookies.

I feel that Mack will end up with more tackles in this game than Borland will.  That’s partially because I’m expecting the 49ers to run more, which will give Mack more opportunities than Borland will have.  I also, if forced, take Mack over Borland for the future.  Fans of defense should enjoy watching both players on Sunday.

Final Prediction

Brian Bahr/Getty Images

The 49ers' best hopes of making the playoffs is still winning out, even with Arizona’s failure against Atlanta on Sunday.  That means this is essentially a playoff game for them, while it’s just another game for the Raiders.

That makes it seem like I’m going to predict a huge blowout for the 49ers, but that’s not what I’m going to do—I’ve learned my lesson from watching them squeak out victories over Washington and the New York Giants earlier this year. The 49ers have a tendency to play down to the level of their opponent.

I also don’t think 10 days is suddenly going to fix all of the 49ers’ offensive problems.  This is something that needs to be worked on in the offseason.  Just like you can’t fix a car’s engine while going down the highway, sometimes you just have to limp to the finish line and figure out what went wrong later.

Still, it’s the Oakland Raiders.  They’re not as bad as their 1-11 record would indicate…but they’re not that much better, either.

The 49ers will win and keep themselves alive in the playoff conversation, at least for one more week.

Prediction: San Francisco 24, Oakland 21.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.