The Raiders' and 49ers' owners are not analogous to other sentient life forms, so I won't dare compare Al Davis with the York Family Choral Ensemble.

The Raiders' and 49ers' interim coaches inherited the current chaos, so it's not fair to compare Tom Cable's stress reaction with Mike Singletary's full-tilt mode.

But with the 49ers set to play in Buffalo on Sunday — two months after the Raiders lost there by just a point — this is a good time for a few general conclusions about these go-nowhere teams.

After 11 games apiece of sloppy play, fired coaches and flares of random quality, if we just analyze the talent on the rosters apart from all other quantum bungling, I think it's safe to say:

The 3-8 Raiders have better players than the 3-8 49ers.

The Raiders with JaMarcus Russell have more of a future than the 49ers with Shaun Hill.

The Raiders would beat the 49ers if they played each other right now.

This doesn't mean the Raiders will be better in the future. This doesn't mean they've been run more wisely or that the 49ers have no chance. Things can improve swiftly in the NFL, as we've seen elsewhere, just not here.

But if you look at the two rosters in the cold light of late November, the Raiders are more talented — with more things to screw up, too.

Of course, the 49ers could make a mockery of my logic by destroying the Bills on Sunday. And the Raiders could make me look idiotic if they lose at home against horrid Kansas City this afternoon.

Oh well. I'm going to run through a handful of purely analytical reasons why the paranoid, offensively woebegone Raiders are superior to the dazed, turnover-prone 49ers...

Quality victories: The Raiders have played more good teams and played them better, registering a 2-7 record against teams currently .500 or better.

The Raiders have victories at home over the Jets (now 8-3) and at Denver (now 6-5); the Raiders' three victories have come against teams with a combined 15-18 record.

The 49ers are 0-7 against teams currently .500 or better. The 49ers' three victories have come against Seattle, Detroit and St. Louis — opponents that now have a combined record of 4-31.

Offensive talent: The Raiders are much worse statistically than the 49ers, but they have Russell, a No. 1 overall draft pick who hasn't yet been crushed.

The 49ers have Alex Smith, the 2005 No. 1 pick, who long ago was reduced to rubble, and after him only question marks at quarterback.

Meanwhile, the 49ers' best player, running back Frank Gore, is offset by Raiders rookie Darren McFadden and veteran Justin Fargas.

Best targets? With two sets of bad receivers, I'm offering up 49ers tight end Vernon Davis (19 catches, two touchdowns), who is more than balanced out by the Raiders' Zach Miller (32 catches, one touchdown).

Defensive talent: The 49ers love to brag about their defensive talent, and yet...

I'll take the Raiders' star defensive end, Derrick Burgess, over the 49ers' Justin Smith.

I'll take the Raiders' shutdown cornerback, Nnamdi Asomugha, over the 49ers' Nate Clements.

I'll take the Raiders' bulk up the middle, Tommy Kelly and Gerard Warren, over the 49ers' Aubrayo Franklin and Isaac Sopoaga.

No question, 49ers inside linebacker Patrick Willis is the best at his position, but not by landslide. Willis has 76 solo tackles in 11 games this season (a 6.9 average, down from 8.4 last season) and one interception, the first of his career.

The Raiders' Kirk Morrison has 68 solo tackles this season and Thomas Howard has 61, and the pair last season combined for 10 interceptions. (They have only one apiece this season.)

Kicking-game talent: The 49ers' Joe Nedney and Andy Lee are balanced out by Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler.

The Raiders' Johnnie Lee Higgins (two punt-return touchdowns) balances out Allen Rossum (one kickoff-return touchdown, and now injured).

Overall: I'm no Raiders homer, though I'd love it if you accused me of such hilarity.

Conveniently for this discussion, many of the teams' weakest areas are dodgy duplicates: wide receiver, offensive line, safeties, coaching and front-office planning.

Conveniently for the other 30 NFL franchises, it doesn't look like the 49ers or Raiders can or will fix what really ails them at the top of both flow charts.

But for the 49ers, the inconvenient conclusion is that they are worse than the Raiders in almost every tangible aspect, which makes the 49ers the saddest case in this sad region.