Surprises and disappointments from the release of the San Francisco 49ers' 2024 NFL Schedule

Per Sharp Football Analysis, the 49ers have the easiest schedule in the NFL across the first six weeks of the season before meeting with the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of Super Bowl 58. 

The 49ers do have a primetime clash with the Seattle Seahawks the week before that encounter, but they have won their last five meetings with Seattle (including postseason). In short, the 49ers will see just one team expected to contend, the Rams, between the season opener and the game that will be regarded as their biggest litmus test.

The league has saved many of the 49ers’ most difficult games for what could be a compelling stretch run, but it’s a little odd the reigning NFC champions aren’t under the microscope more in the early going.

A lower-key rematch

An even bigger surprise is that the most substantial challenge the 49ers will face in the 2024 regular season — in attempting to put the Super Bowl agony behind them and beat Patrick Mahomes for the first time — is not a primetime occasion.

Instead, the 49ers’ Week 7 rematch with the Chiefs will be on Fox and called by their lead broadcast team, meaning it will get the star treatment with Tom Brady in the booth.

But not having a reunion of the two teams that produced only the second Super Bowl to go to overtime — Brady of course winning the first — under the lights feels like something of a missed opportunity.

For their own state of mind, the 49ers’ can’t let another chance to beat Mahomes slip through their fingers. However, the last time they played the Chiefs at Levi’s, it was on Fox with lead announcer Kevin Burkhardt — alongside Greg Olsen — in the booth as he will be for the same game in 2024. The Chiefs won in blowout fashion, though the 49ers subsequently reeled off 10 successive regular-season wins.

That’s not a great omen as they look to slay the dragon and finally beat Mahomes, but the Niners won’t care about kickoff time or network or anything of that ilk as long as they finally knock off the team that has continually broken their hearts.

No London game

Coming off a season in which they were a play away from winning the Super Bowl, there was reason to believe the 49ers — who are international marketing rights holders in the United Kingdom — might play a regular-season game in London for the first time since 2013.

But the Niners were once again left off the schedule for the three UK games in 2024. The Minnesota Vikings, the only team on the 49ers’ schedule set to play a ‘home game’ in London in 2024, will take on the Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

With the logistical challenges that come with the transatlantic travel, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan will probably be very relieved the Niners are again avoiding the London trip, though for the 49ers’ substantial UK fanbase, it extends a frustrating wait.

Disappointments

Playing four teams off bye

Inside the 49ers’ building, there may be significant frustration at the several disadvantages they appear to have following the release of the schedule.

While the Niners may be happy for a Week 9 bye that could help facilitate a big-time trade at the deadline, they likely aren’t too thrilled at the prospect of playing four teams coming off a bye in 2024.

Three of those games are against 2023 playoff teams — the Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills — with the scheduling of the Week 7 game with the Chiefs somewhat negating the impact of the mini-bye the 49ers will get by playing on Thursday Night Football in Week 6.

San Francisco is familiar with the challenge of playing four teams who enjoyed bye weeks prior to their game, having done so last year. The 49ers went 2-2 in those games but, in being dealt that hand again this year, they have seen the difficulty level of their quest to get back to the Super Bowl ratcheted up.

Two four-day turnarounds

The 49ers have six primetime games in 2024, two of which come on Thursday Night Football.

San Francisco will face the Seahawks on a Thursday in Week 6 and has another division rival in primetime in Week 15 when they meet the Rams on a short week.

Shanahan last year explained how going from a Sunday game into a Thursday leaves coaches and players feeling very “rushed”.

Despite the abbreviated week of preparation, the 49ers won both their Thursday games last year and, though the Seahawks have changed their coaching staff, the familiarity element means of playing two division foes means San Francisco shouldn’t feel too rushed preparing for either game.

Still, it’s unlikely Shanahan was celebrating when he saw his team had been given a pair four-day turnarounds for the second successive year.

A huge disadvantage

The combination of playing four teams off bye and having a pair of four-day turnarounds has left the 49ers with a rest disadvantage of minus 21 days compared to their opponents.

That is the third-largest since 2002, when the NFL expanded to 32 teams.

San Francisco, having added eight rookies to their ranks via the draft following a busy free agency period, has one of the deepest rosters in the NFL. Yet being at such a disadvantage in terms of rest will severely test that depth and complicate the 49ers’ potential path back to the Super Bowl.

The 49ers have overcome adversity, primarily related to injuries, throughout Shanahan’s tenure. Still, there’s likely to be disappointment that the league didn’t give them a slightly better hand for their latest Super Bowl push.