There's only one week left in the 2018-19 NFL regular season, and there's only one thing 49ers and Raiders fans probably care about -- the 2019 NFL Draft order.
As a result of the Raiders' 27-14 win over the Denver Broncos on Monday and the 49ers' 14-9 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the order at the top of the draft has been shuffled.
Both Bay Area teams sit at 4-11 on the season, tied with the New York Jets for the second-worst record in the league. The Cardinals, at 3-12, are alone at the bottom. However, due to opponents' strength of schedule, San Francisco has leapfrogged the other two 4-11 teams and would pick second in the 2019 NFL Draft if it was held Tuesday.
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The Raiders experienced the opposite side of that coin. Their win, combined with losses by the 49ers and the Jets, dropped them to the No. 4 pick in the draft with one game to go.
Even if the 49ers beat the Rams on Sunday, the worst they can do is have the No. 5 pick, according to Adam Stites of SB Nation. However, the Raiders' draft range is much wider. If the Raiders win at Kansas City in Week 17, they could fall all the way to ninth.
Maybe more than any other team, the Raiders need their top pick in the draft to be as high as possible. Much of this has to do with their trades of Khalil Mack to the Bears and Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys.
Mack has been an NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate for the NFC North champion Bears, while Cooper has turned the Cowboys' offense into a real problem for defenses as Dallas won the NFC East on Sunday. Through Week 16, the Raiders' first-round pick from the Bears is projected to be No. 27, and the pick the Cowboys gave them is at No. 25.
San Francisco 49ers
Neither pick will fall out of the top 20, with both teams winning their division.
Finishing on a strong note always is every team's goal. But for the 49ers and Raiders, finishing strong only means getting closer to the top pick in the draft.