The 49ers come out of their bye week with a chance to get right, but the Raiders aren’t walking into Santa Clara as harmless visitors. Las Vegas snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over the Jets, and while the record still looks shaky after a 3-0 start turned into 3-4, this is a team with enough offense to make Sunday uncomfortable.
The biggest issue for the Raiders is still on the other side of the ball. Their defense has been one of the league’s weakest units, and the numbers are ugly across the board: 381.9 yards allowed per game, third-most in the NFL, and 28.8 points allowed per game, second-worst.
Even worse for Las Vegas, that side of the ball has trended the wrong way. In five straight games, the Raiders have given up at least 30 points after surrendering just 27 combined in their first two contests.
That opens the door for San Francisco, even with Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel unavailable. The Jets just became the latest team to exploit the Raiders, putting up 30 points for the first time since Week 8 of last season. The 49ers should see a path to points if they can protect the football.
That’s the catch. San Francisco has been loose with the ball lately, and the Raiders have made a living on takeaways.
Las Vegas has forced 13 turnovers, fifth-most in the league, with seven fumble recoveries and five interceptions. The 49ers, meanwhile, have averaged a fumble per game, and five of their six lost fumbles have come in the last three games.
After giving it away just twice in the first four games, San Francisco has coughed it up eight times over its last three.
So the matchup isn’t just about whether the 49ers can attack a bad defense. It’s also about whether they can clean up the mistakes that have piled up recently.
On the other side, the Raiders’ offense gives them a real chance to hang around. They average 265.1 passing yards per game, third-best in the league, and they’ve shown enough punch to get into shootouts. In four of their eight games, both teams have topped 24 points, and Las Vegas has split those games.
A big part of that surge has come from giving second-year tight end Brock Bowers a capable quarterback in veteran Kirk Cousins. Under Klint Kubiak, Cousins has thrown 19 touchdowns and five interceptions through the first half of the season. His 6.7 touchdown percentage is his best since 2020, and his 1.8 interception rate is his lowest since 2023.
Bowers has been central to that jump. Even though he missed the first two games, he leads the Raiders in targets by 14, receptions by four, receiving yards by 73 and touchdowns by one. Las Vegas looked solid in the two games without him, but the offense has taken another step with him in the lineup, scoring 30 points in three of the six games he has played.
How San Francisco handles Bowers will be one of the key questions. The 49ers could lean on a safety, maybe Ji’Ayir Brown, or try a corner, though that could be a tough ask given Bowers’ size. There’s also the possibility of Fred Warner seeing him a few times just to test the matchup.
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