National Football League

Kevin Merfeld, Morning Merf: 49ers-Raiders game lacks the luster

Published Oct. 16, 2010 11:08 a.m. ET

foxsports

Even former 49er Terrell Owens couldn't sell this matchup.

Get your popcorn ready?

Nah.

Get your plunger ready. Remember to jiggle the handle after you flush. And maybe open a window when you're done.

It's the Toilet Bowl! (Or the one game where it'd be OK for 49er coach Mike Singletary to drop his pants.)

It's a good weekend to have a cold, because it's gonna be a stinker Sunday: the winless and dysfunctional 49ers are hosting the Raiders, who are actually a shanked field goal from a wining record.

Sounds backward, right?

Well, how's this for backward: despite all that, the 49ers are favored by 6.5 points.

Is that the ultimate dissing or what?

In chippy rivalries, the famous clich? is you can throw away the records when these two teams play.

But how do you do that when the coach and all of Candlestick Park just threw their starting quarterback under a bus? Have the 49ers ever had a lower moment than the fourth quarter last week? On national TV, no less?

Niner fans were so desperate, so fed up, so (fill in your favorite insult), that they chanted "We want Carr!" over and over. As in the other No. 1 overall bust they have on their roster David Carr. (By the way, the 49ers gave away Shaun Hill for a seventh rounder before this season. Hill not only has a win, but he has more touchdowns and fewer interceptions than Smith. Enjoy that seventh rounder.)

Niner fans frothing at the mouth for Carr make the Black Hole seem as smart as the Stanford student section in comparison. And the scary thing is Singletary almost listened to the mob.

Raiders owner Al Davis runs a tight ship compared to his beleagured Bay Area foe.

It has always been assumed the Raiders were lost at sea, slowly spirally in a whirlpool, while there was this beacon of hope guiding the 49ers, who were about to right the ship.

The 49ers were 8-8 last year, and the once potent Cardinals had their wings clipped in the offseason. The division was there to be plundered, especially with St. Louis and Seattle stuck in the shipyard rebuilding.

But here are the 49ers, shipwrecked on an island lonelier than Revis Island. They've already fired their offensive coordinator, and Yahoo has reported that Singletary will be forced to walk the plank.

How did we get to this point? Does the team that has lost at least 11 games for the last seven years and is blacked out every home game have a brighter future than the fool's gold 49ers?

Sure, the Raiders got steamrolled by the Chris Johnson Express in Week 1, but they've been competitive ever since, even knocking off their nemesis San Diego last week.

They have two quarterbacks better than Smith, and both have led Raider rallies, even though they have worse targets than the 49ers.

Of course, the Raiders continue to sabotage themselves in the draft. Darrius Heyward-Bey is just the latest indefensible draft pick and it also handed Michael Crabtree to the 49ers.

Both teams have leaky defenses, with each ranked 25th or worse in points allowed.

This matchup is the opposite of Tim Lincecum vs. Roy Halladay.

Until it is trumped by next week's schedule, when the 49ers play at the winless Panthers.

Kevin Merfeld can be reached at kmerfeld@montereyherald.com

49ers vs. Raiders
?Sunday: in San Francisco, 1 p.m.
?TV/Radio: Fox/KNBR (1050), KION (1460)