The Las Vegas Raiders Week 17 game with the San Francisco 49ers will be a quarterback matchup between Brock Purdy and Jarrett Stidham. Bet you didn’t have that on your Raiders-49ers bingo card before the season started (or even just a few weeks ago). That’s the matchup we get, though, so let’s go ahead and make some bold Week 17 Raiders predictions.

On a seemingly normal Wednesday press conference between Weeks 16 and 17, Josh McDaniels unceremoniously ended the nine-season Derek Carr Era with seven words: ‘We’re going to go ahead and start Jarrett.” Now the Raiders are looking toward the future, and the first test is against what might be the best team in the league for the second half of the season.

While the Raiders can’t find one quarterback to win games in 2022, the 49ers had three winning signal-callers this season. Brock Purdy replaced Jimmy Garoppolo who replaced Trey Lance as the team’s starting QB. Now the team is 11-4 after eight consecutive wins and heads into the Week 17 Raiders-49ers tilt as the hottest team in football.

These are two teams on complete opposite ends of the NFL spectrum, but sometimes that can make for an interesting game. Will it be in Week 17? Let’s find out by making some bold Raiders predictions for this matchup.

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3. The Raiders defense can’t stop Brock Purdy and the 49ers

The last player taken in the draft shouldn’t be starting at quarterback for the hottest team in the NFL eight months into his career. However, that’s exactly what is happening with 2022 Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy.

When Jimmy G went out in Week 13, Purdy picked up the starting QB mantle, and the 49ers didn’t miss a beat.

Now the rookie faces a Raiders defense that is 23rd in points allowed (350), 25th in yards allowed (5,413), 31st in takeaways (12), and 30th in sacks (25). After adding All-Pro pass-rusher Chandler Jones this offseason, that last number is particularly frustrating for Raiders fans.

In the Week 17 Raiders-49ers game, this defense won’t trouble Purdy at all, and the rookie will get to sit back and pick out which one of his incredible weapons — Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, and maybe even a returning Deebo Samuel — he wants to give the ball to.

The formula to fluster a rookie like Purdy is pressure and forcing turnovers, and those are two things that the Raiders just don’t do, regardless of who the QB is.

2. We see undrafted rookie Chase Garbers in the Raiders' Week 17 game

There were only a small handful of college QBs who joined NFL teams after Brock Purdy. California’s Chase Garbers was one of them. The four-year Golden Bears starter signed with the Raiders as an undrafted free agent after the 2022 NFL Draft concluded and will be the backup QB on Sunday as Derek Carr is stepping away from the team after his benching.

The (very) bold Week 17 Raiders prediction here is that we see Garbers in action on Sunday.

Josh McDaniels wants to give his old New England Patriots backup, Jarrett Stidham, a try. However, we’ve seen Stidham in three preseasons now and a handful of live-game action, and have an idea about who he is. Going against the No. 1-ranked 49ers defense, the Raiders starter is in for a long day.

And whether it is due to ineffectiveness or injury brought on by the 49ers D, the Raiders will have to turn to Chase Garbers at some point, and we’ll get to see the little-known rookie take on his (previously) little-known rookie counterpart Brock Purdy.

If McDaniels really hopes to find a hidden gem after benching Carr, he’s more likely to find it in Garbers than Stidham.

1. Raiders 16, 49ers 31

Say what you want about Derek Carr, but the Raiders' chances of winning games in 2022 are much better with him than with Jarrett Stidham or Chase Garbers. Despite this fact, with or without Carr, the chances of Las Vegas winning this week’s Raiders-49ers game are pretty low, no matter who is under center.

The 49ers are cruising right now, and there is no reason to think that the Raiders are the team that will stop them after the horrific season Las Vegas has had.

The 49ers’ multitude of weapons and dangerous defense was what many fans and pundits alike thought the Raiders had heading into the 2022 season. Kyle Shanahan figured out a way to get the best out of all the talent, though, while Josh McDaniels did not.

That’s why the final bold Week 17 Raiders prediction is a 49ers blowout.