San Francisco @ Oakland preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 20, 2011 ) Oakland 3, San Francisco 17

The San Francisco 49ers are on the outside looking in at the NFC playoff picture and keeping dealing with stories about the future of head coach Jim Harbaugh. The Oakland Raiders, who host the 49ers on Sunday, are coming off their most embarrassing loss in a season of low points after being crushed 52-0 by the St. Louis Rams last week. The 49ers have taken three straight from their cross-bay rivals but the teams are meeting for the first time since 2010.

San Francisco squandered a chance to move into wild card position with a 19-3 loss at home to Seattle on Thanksgiving night and resides outside the NFC playoff picture. “We’re going to attack it,” Harbaugh told reporters. “We’re going to get it right. There will be improvements that are made, and I have great confidence that we can do that.” The Raiders are one of six teams in the NFL averaging fewer points than the 49ers and rank last in the league at 14.7 points.

TV: 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: 49ers -8. O/U: 40.5

ABOUT THE 49ERS (7-5): San Francisco has a trip to Seattle coming up next week and finish up at home against San Diego and Arizona but is not overlooking the lowly Raiders. “There’s no bad teams in the National Football League,” Harbaugh told reporters. “The NFL has done a great job making each game a test, and they’ve exceeded in expectations in that regard.” The 49ers have reached 20 points in one of their last six games and quarterback Colin Kaepernick does not have more than 24 rushing yards in any of those contests while completing 58.1 percent of his passes in that span.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS (1-11): Oakland pulled off its first win in a year with a 24-20 home triumph over Kansas City on Nov. 20 and had a few extra days to prepare for the Rams, only to commit five turnovers and get run off the field last week. “We watched the tape, made the corrections, moved on and (we're) getting on to San Francisco,” Oakland coach Tony Sparano told reporters. “You move on quickly. You move on just like you do every other game.” Rookie quarterback Derek Carr threw a pair of interceptions and was replaced late by Matt Schaub, but Sparano is confident in Carr going forward.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Raiders RB Latavius Murray (concussion), who rushed for two touchdowns against the Chiefs, sat out last week but has been cleared to play versus the 49ers.

2. Kaepernick had a string of 21 straight games with at least one TD pass come to an end last week.

3. Oakland RB Darren McFadden totaled 111 yards on 51 carries in the last five games.

PREDICTION: 49ers 24, Raiders 10