49ers’ dysfunction more intriguing than Raiders’

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Happy Dysfunctional Football Week!

For the next five days, leading to the 49ers’ visit to the Coliseum on Sunday, we get to revel in the weirdness that is our corner of the NFL world.

You would think that the Raiders would win the dysfunction game, hands down. After all, they followed their only victory in a year with a 52-0 trampling by the Rams. They don’t have a permanent head coach, their general manager is probably on his way out, they don’t know where they’ll play in the future, and their players almost celebrated their way out of their only win of the season.

But the 49ers are giving the Raiders a serious run in the dysfunction competition. In some ways, the 49ers are even more bizarre because they were expected to be a Super Bowl contender. This was supposed to be the big, new-stadium-infused, championship season.

Not only did the 49ers appear lifeless against their most-bitter rival in a nationally televised game, they also allowed that rival to eat a turkey dinner on their “SF” midfield logo afterward. How does that happen?

As the clock ticked down on the disaster of a Thanksgiving night game, owner Jed York tweeted an apology to the fans and said, “This performance wasn’t acceptable.” General manager Trent Baalke’s college-age daughter fired offensive coordinator Greg Roman on Twitter, before deleting her account.

And over the weekend, there were more reports about head coach Jim Harbaugh’s future: that he could be traded in the offseason to the Jets or the Raiders.

Note: These “reports” are virtually always planted stories coming directly from a front-office source who has reason to want such information out there.

FILE - In this May 21, 2013, file photo, San Francisco 49ers football team CEO Jed York speaks during a news conference at the NFL spring meeting in Boston. York said Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014, that he will let "due process take its course" before deciding whether to discipline Ray McDonald after the defensive tackle was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. In his first public comments since McDonald's arrest Aug. 31, York told San Francisco's KNBR radio that he will not punish McDonald until he sees "evidence that it should be done or before an entire legal police investigation shows us something." (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File) less FILE - In this May 21, 2013, file photo, San Francisco 49ers football team CEO Jed York speaks during a news conference at the NFL spring meeting in Boston. York said Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014, that he will let ... more Photo: Elise Amendola, Associated Press Photo: Elise Amendola, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 49ers’ dysfunction more intriguing than Raiders’ 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

So, yes, in that regard, the 49ers’ dysfunction is superior to the old-fashioned, lousy-team type of defect the Raiders continue to embrace.

On Monday, at his weekly news conference, Harbaugh failed to engage in the noise surrounding his team. He said he had not talked to York over the weekend. That he was standing by Roman with “unwavering support.” That he wasn’t thinking about his future, but only about “attacking the week. My job is to get it right.” He repeated that phrase incessantly.

“I don’t worry about my future,” Harbaugh said. “I haven’t participated in any of that speculation. I think I have a recessive gene for worrying about my own future.”

When asked which of the teams he would be coaching Sunday — the Raiders or the 49ers — Harbaugh didn’t respond. Or appear to be particularly amused.

It is unlikely that the outside noise about Harbaugh impacted the 49ers’ performance on the field. The team was coming off three straight wins and a short week and things were relatively quiet and happy. But the sound and the fury will get only louder and could influence performance as the team comes down the stretch with four games in December. The 49ers surely have to win three of them, and might have to win all four to make the playoffs.

It’s not surprising that the drama and speculation that surrounded Harbaugh in the offseason has flared again. The business of the regular season — of the struggling offense, the Ray McDonald case, the Aldon Smith suspension —was loud enough to drown out any less-immediate issues.

But now with the 49ers struggling to make the playoffs, and just a month remaining in the regular season, the earlier story line has re-emerged. York chose to make it reappear with his apology tweet.

The harsh reality is that the 49ers might choose to part ways with the only decent head coach they’ve had in the past decade. With the man who revived them from dormancy and put them back within reach of a championship. And that would happen not because of on-field performance but because of personality conflicts and ego struggles in the front office. In other words, a page from the 49ers’ past. A page from Jed York’s bloodlines.

Is there a reality in which Harbaugh could be coaching the Raiders next season? Absolutely. But it’s unlikely any team would trade a high draft pick for a coach whose team seems to want to get rid of him. And why would Harbaugh — who will have to give permission for a trade — want to go to a team without all its draft picks and best players available?

Harbaugh is under contract for next season, and he could force the 49ers to fire him and eat the last year of his contract. If his wife, Sarah, is as enamored of the Bay Area as we’ve been told, and if his fondness for the Raiders and Al Davis’ legacy is as strong as he has indicated, Harbaugh could land with the Raiders. After all, they have a pretty darn good quarterback.

“He’s a fine player,” Harbaugh said of Derek Carr. “He’s handled his business. He’s done a fine job overall.”

The odd man out in a Harbaugh departure would be the player who appears to be struggling the most right now. Colin Kaepernick, Harbaugh’s handpicked quarterback, would lose his strongest backer if Harbaugh left. Kaepernick might regret the day he signed that team-friendly contract in the offseason.

Turns out the future for both teams is murky and mysterious. There’s a football game to win Sunday, but the true champion of dysfunction is yet to be determined.