Back To The Bay as 49ers, Raiders Rekindle Rivalry

By Peter Mann

Some NFL rivalries are built up on the field of play, whilst others are due to geographic proximity, however, where the San Francisco 49ers (NFC West) and Las Vegas Raiders (AFC West) are concerned, both of these points have been deciding factors.

Following the AFL-NFL merger in the late sixties, with the 1970 season seeing one league, two conferences spring forth, did the old ‘Battle of the Bay’ spring into existence; back then its was that of the Oakland Raiders in which the 49ers were facing, with the former coming into existence a decade earlier, in 1960, whilst the latter much earlier, in 1944.

Fast-forward to the present day and, although the ‘Battle of the Bay’ isn’t quite the same since the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, their new Head Coach, Klint Kubiak, and a quarterback room consisting veteran Kirk Cousins, and number one Draft Pick, Fernando Mendoza, are going ‘Back to the Bay’ on 8 November (Wk Nine).

Lying in wait at Levi’s Stadium will be Kyle Shanahan’s experienced franchise who, since the pairs last meeting in 2022, have been to the Super Bowl (once), and Post Season (twice), but the two who were once neighbours separated by the waters of the San Francisco Bay, have met just fifteen times since the merger.

Of those fifteen, seven have come since the turn of the millennium, with the 49ers holding an 8-7 lead, and both having put together a three-game winning streak; the first meeting, that went in favour of Dick Nolan’s three-times NFC West champion 49ers, and on enemy soil at the Coliseum.

It was the final game of the 1970 regular season, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, with Nolan’s stars moving into the play-offs on the back of 10-3-1 record, and a stunning, 38-7 success over John Madden’s Raiders.

Visiting quarterback, John Brodie, posted 171yds, 3TDs (passing), with Daryle Larmonica putting up 185yds, 1TD (passing) in reply, as the 49ers put up 21pts in the second, and 14pts the fourth, without reply.

Embed from Getty Images

The Raiders did win the next three meetings, avenging that 1970 loss in their very next outing, this being a 35-24 success, at Candlestick Park, on 27 October 1974; revenge is best served on enemy soil…

As the 49ers had done in 1970, the win for the Raiders helped propel them into the play-offs on the back of a 12-2 record, Silver & Black legend, Ken ‘The Snake’ Stabler putting up 140yds, 2TDs (passing), along with rushing scores from running backs Marv Hubbard and Pete Banaszak; Tom Owen replied with 206yds, 2TDs (passing), and running back Delvin Williams adding a rushing score.

The third quarter of this would see the 49ers move into a 24-14 lead, before the visiting spun the contest on its head to move ahead by four, 28-24, heading into the final quarter, they having both put on fourteen apiece in a thunderous third.

Winning the next two, 23-10 (1979) and 23-17 (1982), the Raiders actually won six of the next eight collisions, including a 34-28 overtime success in the first game of the millennium, at Candlestick on 8 October, and despite shipping fourteen points in both the second and third quarters – Rich Gannon was on fire for Jon Gruden’s Raiders, twice connecting with wide receiver Tim Brown, including a 31yd toss for the game-winning score in overtime.

Jeff Garcia was in similar form for Steve Mariucci’s 49ers, hitting both wide receivers in Terrell Owens, and a former Raiders star, Jerry Rice (left San Francisco for Oakland), for scores; since the turn of the millennium however, it’s been all-49ers, the Raiders hoping their new blood will level up their rivalry in early November.

Embed from Getty Images

The 49ers though have registered victories in five of the last six clashes, including three consecutive at home, with the Raiders having left Oakland for Los Angeles, Los Angeles for Oakland, then in 2020, Oakland for Las Vegas, this becoming the second meeting under the Silver & Black’s current guise.

Two of those five victories have been in overtime, a 23-20 success back on 3 November 2002, and a 37-34 win the last time the two met, on 1 January 2022, like the first meeting back in 1970, on Raiders’ soil, doing so at the Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas.

It’s been twelve years since the Raiders’ last victory, as interim Head Coach, Tony Sparano, saw his side put up a 24-13 result at the Coliseum, on 7 December 2014; a lifetime ago for the Silver & Black – that was one of only three Raiders successes that season as Derek Carr put on 254yds, 3TDs (passing), whilst Colin Kaepernick replied with 174yds, 11TD (passing).

Remember those two quarterbacks, Derek Carr (Raiders) and Colin Kepernick (49ers)?

As for that last meeting, and after the 49ers had tied the series with a 34-3 win at Levi’s Stadium, where they’ve been since 2013, on 1 November 2018, Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers inching ahead with a 37-34 overtime win.

It was the third overtime game between the two franchises, with the Raiders, in the midst of their now seemingly regular, losing seasons, putting up a fight enough to tie the contest with sixty-six seconds on the game-clock.

Brock Purdy threw for 284yds, 2TDs (passing), with running backs Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason adding rushing scores for the victors, that rare Raiders quarterback, Jarrett Stidham posting 365yds, 3TDs (passing), and running back Josh Jacobs adding a rushing score for added measure.

That was then though, and this is now, with Kubiak taking his new-look Raiders to the Levi’s Stadium in November to face off against the experienced, talented roster of Shanahan’s 49ers, and whatever happens in the rest of the season, happens.

For both franchises though, week one of the 2026 regular season begins in earnest on the weekend of the 10-14 September, the 49ers kicking off on the Thursday (10 September) night in the first of their two ‘road games’ in this years’ international series when they play the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in Melbourne, Australia (they’ll also face the Minnesota Vikings in Mexico City, Mexico, on 22 November).

As for the Raiders, their regular season begins with a home clash against Miami Dolphins on Sunday 13 September.

(Footnote – ahead of the ‘Back to the Bay’ between San Francisco 49ers and Las Vegas Raiders, we’ll take a look back at a couple of those meetings in-depth, for one of those historical features).

PETER MANN

NFL ANALYST

PETER IS A LIFELONG SPORTS FAN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR BASED IN COUNTY DURHAM. HE HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL AND THE RAIDERS SINCE THE 1980s, AND LOVES BOTH SPORTS AND FAMILY HISTORY. PETER HAS A DEGREE IN SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, AND CAN BE FOUND ON TWITTER @petermannwriter

 
Rated 5 out of 5