espn.com photo: San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke are expected to be relieved of their duties right after Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks at Levis Stadium

By: Joe Lami

The San Francisco 49ers kick off their final game of the horrendous 2016 campaign on Sunday against their division foes, the Seattle Seahawks. It will most likely be the last game where Trent Baalke is the GM of San Francisco, who’s expected to be fired after his drafts have put together a record of 7-24 over the past two season.

Colin Kaepernick is also expected to play his final game in the red and gold. Due to a restructure in his contract, he has the ability to opt out during the offseason to go elsewhere. All indications show that to be the case, as his $3 million San Jose home being put up for sale being the nail in the coffin.

While most of the chatter has been on what might possibly occur on New Years’ Day with the front office, the team still has a game to try and win.

Seattle has already wrapped up the NFC West and are playing for seeding in the playoffs. This means that they won’t hold back against the team that destroyed the San Francisco 37-18 in week three. If Seattle wins and Atlanta is knocked off, the Seahawks will receive a first-round bye. However, if the Niners can pull off the upset, Seattle will drop to the fourth seed.

When Chip Kelly was asked about playing the spoiler role, he said that his team doesn’t look at it that way. They should look at the guys on the other sideline and be pumped up about the competition they’re going against.

The 49ers will be extremely shorthanded once again, as hitting the injury bug has added injury to the insult of this 2016 season. Carlos Hyde, Vance McDonald, Torrey Smith, and Andrew Tiller are all out, with Joe Staley and Rashard Robinson being questionable.

The good news for Niner fans is Sunday will be the end of misery and the team could look forward to their highest draft pick since the 2005 NFL Draft. Once again, the need for the quarterback position is the highest.