Kubiak brothers cherish reunion as Raiders, 49ers meet in the Bay

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Klay Kubiak suspects his father is rooting Sunday for a postgame handshake when he coaches against his brother, Klint.

The victor of their matchup? Irrelevant for Gary, or so his middle son suspects. “Rooting for good competition,” Klay said, between the San Francisco 49ers and the Las Vegas Raiders.

“We just see it as a blessing.”

This iteration of the Battle of the Bay matches the brothers Kubiak, Klay as the second-year 49ers offensive coordinator and Klint as the first-year Raiders coach. They worked together for San Francisco under coach Kyle Shanahan in 2023, Klay as assistant quarterbacks coach and Klint as the passing game coordinator.

They’ve coached against each other before, three times squaring off in 2025 with Klint calling plays for the Seattle Seahawks, among San Francisco’s three NFC West rivals.

The matchups are always sentimental.

Said Klay after practice Thursday in the interview room at Levi’s Stadium, the site of the Week 9 Battle of the Brothers: “Whether you’re on the same team, you’re competing against each other, it’s rare opportunities to share an opportunity with a sibling. To get to see him and say hello, it’s pretty cool. It’s a blessing. It’s another game for our team and we’ve just got to compete and play our best.”

Klint wasn’t quite as talkative Wednesday, but said it was “great reconnecting” with Klay on Shanahan’s coaching staff. They played together at Colorado State — where Klint was a safety and Klay a quarterback — and forged divergent coaching paths until Shanahan brought them back together.

As Klint told reporters after practice Wednesday at Intermountain Health Performance Center: “When you’re kind of in the fire with your brother every day, it definitely builds a closer bond.”

Though not this week, with Klint revealing, “I think we kind of avoid each other. See you. Talk after the game.”

Klint’s stop in San Francisco was his last in the NFL without calling plays, a one-year stint as the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints preceding Seattle. Shanahan — whose father, Mike, coached and worked alongside Gary with the Denver Broncos — is widely regarded as one of the league’s premier play callers and tenets of his scheme are championed by Klint, who relished his stint in San Francisco.

“I could go on for a long time about how impactful it was, and all of them in good ways,” he said.

For the 49ers, too.

San Francisco tight end George Kittle referred to Klint as a “Cookie Monster” for bringing sweet treats to Wednesday meetings, a practice continued nowadays by Klay. Kittle also said he “enjoyed” the detail with which Klint explained game plans and installed pass plays “with all the right tips” for pass catchers.

He coaches with positive reinforcement and only yells when he has to, Kittle noted.

Added Kittle: “He always put guys in the right position. Klint is a hell of a head coach. I’ve heard nothing but great things from the Raiders guys. But no, I’m a huge fan of Klint Kubiak. He didn’t have to leave.”

In some ways, he didn’t because San Francisco’s signal callers still use some of the phrasings Klint used for “footwork and eyes,” per quarterback Brock Purdy. With Klint as his passing game coordinator, Purdy registered single-season career highs for touchdown passes (31), passing yards (4,280) and passer rating (113) that still hold up.

“He was always real with me,” Purdy said. “He coached me up well and so really just happy for him. Love him to death.”

Klay too cherished the chance to coach alongside Klint in 2023 and hopes it happens again someday. But on Sunday, he’s loyal first to San Francisco.

Till it’s time for the postgame handshake.

“To learn from him, to see how he works, to see how he looks at the game, I learned so much from him,” said Klay, a year Klint’s junior but his spitting image. “To just get to share that experience of going to through the grind of the season together and going to the playoffs and the Super Bowl run, it was amazing. I would love to get that chance someday to work with him again. But it was pretty cool.”

Contact Sam Gordon at [email protected]. Follow @BySamGordon on X.