So at least we have a common theme for the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders in terms of what's ahead this weekend:

Odor-Eater Sunday.

Because you must admit, right now, both teams stink. If you combine the 49ers and Raiders rosters, as they performed in their openers, you get the smell of a moldy liverwurst sandwich that has been sitting in the luggage bin of John Madden's bus for five days in 100-degree heat.

And please make that sandwich the size of Robert Gallery or Jonas Jennings, huh? Because it's a very large smell.

But you already knew that.

The question is, which team will eradicate the stink faster? Like, say, this Sunday? The 49ers at Seattle? Or the Raiders at Kansas City?

Or if you want to be more negative: Which team is worse, with the least chance of turning things around?

To glean an answer, it was instructive to attend this week's day-after media sessions by both coaches. Mike Nolan did his Monday, following the 49ers' ugly loss to Arizona. Lane Kiffin did his Tuesday, after the Raiders' embarrassment against Denver.

Normally, the Q-and-A sessions are rote affairs, full of tortured spin. But this time, it was more like looking at two sick patients trying to diagnose their own diseases. The take here, after sitting through both, is this: Kiffin has more of a handle on what's wrong with his team. Nolan still appears to be searching.

Kiffin is more eager to toss out first-game video and try to start fresh. Nolan was more into clinically dissecting the problems. And whether either man can take corrective action that succeeds is an utter coin flip. But one team is in better position to do better. Which one? Sorry. You'll have to wait a few more paragraphs.

What you need to know, first and foremost, is that neither Kiffin nor Nolan will be fired this month. Beyond that, who can say? But both Kiffin and Nolan are sons of NFL coaches.

They know the rules of the game. You put your head down and do the work. Then take the consequences.

For the moment, Nolan probably has more front-office support. Although that wouldn't be difficult, because Raiders owner Al Davis supposedly asked Kiffin to resign after last season (rather than firing him and having to pay him more money).

Also, before this season began, you had to wonder if the coaching tumult of the Raiders' off-season — when Kiffin wanted to part ways with defensive coordinator Rob Ryan but Davis intervened and forced Kiffin to keep Ryan — might make its way onto the field somehow.

"I don't know," Kiffin said Tuesday, when asked that question directly. "If it does, I can't go back and change that. So I don't know what that has to do with the penalties and missed coverages. But if it did, I can't change it."

He's right about the last part. However, Kiffin surely has been around the game long enough to know that players who must constantly guess which person is really in charge — Kiffin, Ryan or Davis? — can lose their focus.

At certain points during those long television timeouts, they have to think: "What's going on here?" Especially when expensive new defensive acquisition DeAngelo Hall commits a brain-dead penalty at a crucial time. If you were a lesser-paid player, wouldn't you ask yourself which person was so eager to give Hall so much dough?

Kiffin's best hope: That the man he wanted to ditch, Ryan, can rally the defense out of the ditch. Because it's clear that quarterback JaMarcus Russell and running back Darren McFadden can move the offensive needle. And the Raiders' schedule does get soft in the middle portion.

But the team's finger-pointing culture will be hard to escape.

The 49ers' issues are skewed much more toward Nolan's ability to convince the 49ers they are good enough to win — especially because they might not be. He was working the angle hard Monday, though.

"We're going to be a better football team than we were last year," Nolan promised. "I believe we already are. We were 2-0 last year, but we had our issues."

Of course, if they are not 1-1 after Seattle, issues will return. But give Nolan's team credit. In the opener, it was at least able to keep the game close for more than three periods. Unlike, say, Kiffin's team. And the NFC West looks stunningly mediocre.

To sum up, then: The Raiders have far more potential to get better. But the 49ers actually might.

Get back to us next week, though. Because there's suddenly a big weekend ahead. Odor-Eater Sunday! Catch the olfactory fever!