Tag: 49ers schedule

Takeaways from 49ers’ 2020 schedule

A few key things jump out from the San Francisco 49ers’ 2020 schedule, including prime time games and favorable travel.

The 49ers’ NFC championship defense isn’t going to be easy. Their first-place schedule looks a lot more daunting than last year’s, but a few things about the 16-game slate.

Here are some of our key takeaways from the 49ers’ 2020 schedule:

No playoff teams early

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The 49ers have a tougher schedule than they did a year ago thanks to their first-place finish in 2019. Their first three weeks aren’t necessarily tough though. San Francisco opens the year against three teams that missed the playoffs last season, including Arizona and both New York teams. The Cardinals should be better, but hosting them Week 1 makes that game a little less daunting.

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San Francisco 49ers 2020 schedule officially released

The San Francisco 49ers complete 2020 schedule was released.

The 49ers’ 2020 schedule was finally released Thursday. While there’s still no certainty the league will start on time, the fact we have a complete 16-game schedule is encouraging.

San Francisco faces the AFC East and NFC East, and the winners of the NFC North and NFC South to go along with their six divisional contests.

Here’s the schedule.

Week 1: 49ers vs. Arizona 
Week 2: 49ers at New York Jets
Week 3: 49ers at New York Giants
Week 4: 49ers vs. Philadelphia (Sunday Night Football)
Week 5: 49ers vs. Miami
Week 6: 49ers vs. Los Angeles Rams (Sunday Night Football)
Week 7: 49ers at New England
Week 8: 49ers at Seattle
Week 9: 49ers vs. Green Bay (Thursday Night Football)
Week 10: 49ers at New Orleans
Week 11: BYE
Week 12: 49ers at Los Angeles Rams
Week 13: 49ers vs. Buffalo (Monday Night Football)
Week 14: 49ers vs. Washington
Week 15: 49ers at Dallas (Sunday Night Football)
Week 16: 49ers at Arizona
Week 17: 49ers vs. Seattle

7 games on 49ers 2020 schedule that could be in prime time

The San Francisco 49ers had six prime time games in 2019, but their 2020 schedule could have even more.

The NFL hasn’t released any of its 2020 schedule yet. That’s not going to stop us from speculating.

We know what teams the 49ers are set to play, which allows us to take a guess at which of their games might be in prime time. San Francisco, the defending NFC champs, might actually see an uptick in national TV games this season after playing six last season.

Here are seven games on the 49ers’ schedule slate that could get prime time treatment:

49ers vs. Packers at Levi’s Stadium

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps the NFL will look at last year’s two 49ers-Packers matchups and decide not to put it in prime time. San Francisco beat Green Bay by a combined 46 points, and neither game was even as close as the final score. However, a rematch of the NFC Championship game should have some buzz, especially since both teams should be in the thick of the playoff race again.

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49ers all-time record vs. 2020 opponents

The San Francisco 49ers have a tough slate of opponents on their 2020 schedule, but they’ve had some good success historically against them.

The NFL on Thursday at 5:00pm PT is set to release its 2020 schedule. Whether those games will be played on time remains to be seen, but regardless of when the season starts we know thanks to last year’s action who the 49ers will face in their 16-game schedule.

Their first-place finish in the NFC West turned their schedule into a gauntlet assuming there isn’t any massive fall off by any of the top teams in the league a season ago.

Here’s how the 49ers have fared in the regular season all-time against each of their 2020 opponents:

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Cardinals: 31-26

The 49ers and Cardinals first met way back in 1951, but their rivalry didn’t blossom until they became NFC West foes in 2002 despite the Cardinals residing just south of California since 1988.

Buffalo Bills: 6-6

Somehow these two teams never met in the Super Bowl. The Bills dominated their last showdown with a 45-16 romp at home in 2016. Both teams are significantly better now.

Dallas Cowboys: 15-13-1

This iconic rivalry couldn’t be much closer from a record standpoint. Add in all their playoff meetings and this record moves to 17-18-1 for the 49ers.

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Why 49ers could be Cardinals’ opponent in reported 2020 game in Mexico

The 49ers might be heading out of the country for the first time since 2013.

The 49ers may wind up going out of the country next season. ESPN’s John Sutcliffe reported the Arizona Cardinals have been a team tabbed to play in Mexico for the 2020 season. Their opponent isn’t known yet, but the 49ers would make a lot of sense.

It stands to reason the league would want to put a divisional game there. It was the move they made in 2019 when the Chargers and Chiefs squared off at Estadio Azteca.

San Francisco finished the 2019 season 13-3, and earned a trip to the Super Bowl, making them a pretty significant draw heading into the 2020 campaign. The 49ers, one of the NFL’s premier brands, wouldn’t be missing a home game since the Cardinals would be slated as the home team, and they’d be a big-name team to send to a place where the league is trying to grow the game.

While the NFL has continued its international series in both England and Mexico, the 49ers haven’t travelled abroad for a game since they faced the Jaguars in London in 2013.

Finally, it’s worth noting how tough the Cardinals played the 49ers in 2019. Arizona lost the two games by a combined 13 points, but a fluke touchdown at the end of the second meeting inflated that total by six points.

Kyler Murray is one of the most electric, young quarterbacks in the league, and the Cardinals are liable to score a ton of points next season. Combine that with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s exciting offensive scheme and there’s a real potential for fireworks – an ideal scenario for the NFL.

We likely won’t know whether the 49ers are traveling abroad until closer to April when the schedule comes out, but they may be willing to take an international game if it means avoiding HBO’s Hard Knocks or an international game that results in the loss of a home game in the future.

If the 49ers do beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, they’ll become a hot commodity for the league as it aims to expand its brand beyond US borders.

49ers will host Packers in NFC championship game

The Packers knocked off the Seahawks, which means the 49ers will host Green Bay on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

The Green Bay Packers on Sunday night knocked off the Seattle Seahawks 28-23 to punch their ticket to the NFC championship game. The 49ers will host them at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday for a chance to play in Super Bowl LIV in Miami.

The 49ers and Packers will meet for the second time this season. San Francisco won their first meeting 37-8 in Week 12 on Sunday Night Football.

That game was an overwhelming performance by the 49ers’ defense where they allowed 198 total yards, and just 81 net passing yards thanks to five sacks of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

San Francisco is 3-4 all-time against Green Bay in the playoffs, although they’ve won the last two, and two of the last three. Their consecutive wins came in the divisional round in the 2013 playoffs, and the wild card round the following year. The 49ers have a 2-2 home record against the Packers in the postseason.

Their only meeting in the NFC championship came in the 1998 playoffs when Green Bay downed the 49ers 23-10 at Candlestick Park.

The 49ers and Packers kick off at 3:40 pm PST.

49ers 2020 opponents set

The 49ers’ 2020 opponents are officially set after they won the NFC West.

The 49ers’ opponents for the 2020 season are officially set after the dust settled on a wild Week 17.

San Francisco knocked off the Seahawks in the final game of the year to snag the NFC West crown and give themselves a first-place schedule next season.

Here are the 49ers’ home and road opponents for next year:

Home

Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
Green Bay Packers
Washington
Philadelphia Eagles
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins

Road

Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
New York Giants
Dallas Cowboys
New York Jets
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints

The 49ers will have a tough road slate next year no matter how the games shake out. They’ll make four trips to the East Coast. We’ll know the schedule sometime in April.

Week 17 matchup between 49ers and Seahawks flexed to Sunday Night Football

The 49ers and Seahawks will play for all the marbles on Sunday Night Football in Week 17.

The 49ers and Seahawks will play for all the marbles on national TV in Week 17. Their game, originally slated for the normal 1:00 pm PST kickoff, was flexed to the primetime Sunday Night Football slot on NBC. It will be the final regular season game of the NFL season.

San Francisco’s Week 16 win over the Rams ensured a winner-take-all faceoff with Seattle for the NFC West crown the following week. If Seattle also wins in Week 16, the matchup will also decide the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

It’s the most logical choice for the Sunday night game since it’ll be the only game that will directly decide a division. It’ll also decide which team gets a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and which team goes on the road on Wild Card Weekend.

The 49ers haven’t won in Seattle since the Week 16 of the 2011 season. The Seahawks won their first meeting in Santa Clara this year 27-24 in overtime back in Week 10.

If the rivalry wasn’t officially back, it will be Sunday night, and football fans across the country will get to experience it.

49ers finish toughest 3-game stretch in NFL history with 2 wins

The 49ers had one of the most brutal three-game stretches ever between Weeks 12 and 14. They passed the three tests with flying colors.

The 49ers had, by opponent record, the toughest three-game stretch in NFL history between Weeks 12 and 14. It was a set of games that was going to make or break San Francisco’s spot as a Super Bowl contender. They won two of the three thanks to a 48-46 come-from-behind victory Sunday against the Saints.

San Francisco’s schedule through 11 weeks wasn’t particularly impressive, although they were dominating much of it. Now there’s no more excuses for not putting the 49ers on the short list of Super Bowl contenders.

They trounced the Packers 37-8 at Levi’s Stadium. They hung around with the red-hot Ravens until a last-second, game-winning 49-yard field goal sealed the victory for Baltimore. Then Sunday they went to New Orleans and went blow for blow with the Saints and came out on top in the Superdome against the team that was supposed to be better.

Winning one of the three would’ve had the 49ers in position to take the NFC West and win the NFC’s No.1 seed. Instead, they won two and proved they can hang with any team, and win a close one on the road against an elite team.

If the 49ers hadn’t convinced people of their legitimacy prior to this three-game stretch, they’ve certainly done it with two wins in the most difficult three-game run in NFL history.

Schedule change: 49ers get 2 additional prime-time games vs. Packers, Rams

The 49ers got two additional prime-time games, starting with the Packers in Week 12, which is now on Sunday Night Football.

Add two more prime-time games to the 49ers’ schedule.

Their Week 12 home game against the Green Bay Packers has been flexed to Sunday night. Kickoff is now slated for 5:20 p.m. PT instead of the original 1:25 p.m. Seahawks at Eagles was the original Sunday night matchup.

The 49ers’ loss to the Seahawks put the 8-2 Packers only a half-game behind San Francisco for first place in the NFC standings.

San Francisco doesn’t have an easy Week 11 matchup. They’ll face the Arizona Cardinals, who pushed the 49ers to the brink in Week 9 before the 49ers eventually prevailed 28-25 in Arizona.

Green Bay is idle with a bye week.

That leaves two scenarios on the table for what’s now a huge Sunday night game. Either the 49ers and Packers are both 8-2 and jockeying for a first-round playoff bye, or the 49ers are a game up on the Packers with a chance to create separation.

The Week 16 showdown with the Rams at Levi’s Stadium, which did not have an official time, has been given a 5:15 p.m. PT start on Saturday, Dec. 21. That game will air on NFL Network.

That one could wind up determining the division winner depending on how the rest of the season shakes out. In their first matchup, the 49ers got the better of the Rams, 20-7, in Week 6 in Los Angeles.

This is quite a departure for the 49ers, who had their Sunday night game against the Rams last year flexed out in favor of a more competitive, meaningful matchup.

Prime-time kickoffs should only add to the electricity of two extremely big games for the 49ers in their push for a playoff spot.