AP Photo/Ben Margot

By: Ben Leonard

After a crushing 19-3 loss to the Seahawks on Thanksgiving Day, 49ers fans believed it was rock bottom for their team. They reached new lows in a demoralizing 24-13 loss to their dismal cross-bay rival Raiders on Sunday, effectively ending their playoff aspirations. The Raiders moved to 2-11 on the season with the win, a result that could eventually lose them the number one overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Oakland is suddenly the winner of two out of three, even after an abominable 52-0 loss last Sunday to Saint Louis. The Raiders stood up to a physically superior San Francisco squad and controlled the game throughout.

The Raiders set the tone early, intercepting the first play from scrimmage. Safety Bradian Ross snatched an errant throw from Colin Kaepernick, intended for Michael Crabtree, and returned it to their own forty-nine yard line. After the early momentum swing, Oakland’s offense was firing on all cylinders, with quarterback Derek Carr leading the Raiders all the way to the 49ers’ twenty-eight yard line. However, an unnecessary roughness penalty on guard Austin Howard stalled their progress, and forced them to settle for a fifty-seven yard field goal from Sebastian Janikowski to give them an early 3-0 advantage.

Down 3-0 with just under six minutes to play in the first quarter, Kaepernick and the Niners broke through against Oakland’s defense, driving sixty yards on seven plays for a touchdown. Kaepernick connected with fullback Bruce Miller on an eight yard score to cap the drive, giving the Niners a 7-3 lead. After that drive, San Francisco never looked comfortable again on offense, settling for just two field goals in the remaining three quarters. They struggled to convert on third downs, successful on just three of their twelve attempts, and gained just 248 total yards to Oakland’s 330. They did take a 13-10 lead in the incipient stages of the second half, but quickly lost that advantage. The Raiders subsequently marched down the field, going eighty yards on just eight plays to take a 17-13 lead. Signal-caller Carr’s nine yard touchdown pass to fullback Marcel Reese capped the physical drive, the eventual nail in the coffin for San Francisco. Carr was brilliant on Sunday, completing twenty-two of his twenty-eight pass attempts for 254 yards, throwing three touchdowns and posting a 140.2 quarterback rating in the process.

Colin Kaepernick could not match Carr’s prolific play on Sunday, completing just eighteen of thirty-three throws for 174 yards, and getting sacked five times and throwing two interceptions. The Raiders flummoxed San Francisco’s offensive line, forcing them out of their comfort zone and preventing them from protecting Kaepernick. The Niners finally found an offensive rhythm late in the fourth, when they converted a key fourth and one play at Oakland’s forty-four yard line with eight minutes left. Kaepernick threw a short seven yard pass to receiver Michael Crabtree, and kept their hopes alive. He seemed to be in sync for the first time, but things changed quickly, with the Niners holding the ball at Oakland’s twenty-seven yard line down just 23-14. Suddenly, he started to lean on Crabtree, settling for short gains to connect with the receiver, and overthrew him mightily to set up third and long. Kaepernick was sacked by Antonio Smith on the ensuing play, forcing San Francisco to attempt a long forty-seven yard field goal. To make matters worse, rookie center Marcus Martin had to be helped off the field after the play with an apparent injury. Adding insult to injury, Phil Dawson missed wide left on his attempt from 47 yards, energizing the crowd at the O.co Coliseum. The Niners wasted five minutes and thirty six seconds on the drive, playing without a sense of urgency and letting the game, and their playoff hopes, slip away. The Niners’ second straight loss moved them to 7-6, and two games out of the NFC Wild Card race with just three games left to play. They are now in danger of missing the postseason for the first time under head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN

Featured Image: By Au Kirk; cropped by Moe Epsilon [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons