The San Francisco 49ers’ 2025 schedule was released Wednesday evening, giving us a chance to finally dig into what their path to back to the postseason looks like.
We’ve known their opponents since the end of last season, so we’ve had an idea of what was ahead of them in the 2025 campaign. However, the schedule release gives us a ton of additional context for a potential bounce-back campaign for San Francisco.
Here are our takeaways after sifting through their 18-week schedule:
1. 5 primetime games
The 49ers are in primetime a whopping five times in 2025. They’ll have a Thursday night game, two Sunday Night Football games in Weeks and two Monday Night Football appearances.
2. No holiday games
San Francisco won’t play in any of the NFL’s slew of holiday action. They’re off on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Christmas.
3. A late Bye
It may be a struggle to get to they Bye week since San Francisco will play 13 consecutive games to start the year before a Week 13 Bye. That week off could be huge though. It will give them time to get healthy and geared up for the final postseason push in the last four weeks.
4. Thursday night advantage
The placement of Thursday Night Football on the 49ers’ schedule is pretty favorable. It’s early in the year in Week 5. While they do hit the road on the short week, they just have to travel to Southern California to visit the Los Angeles Rams. That will help mitigate some of the perils of the short week. They’ll also be home the previous week two weeks against the Arizona Cardinals and Jacksonville Jaguars. Two consecutive home games before a Thursday game that’s their shortest road trip of the year isn’t a bad way to deal with the truncated week. An added benefit here is the mini bye week that comes after a TNF game, and the 49ers will have a few extra days off to get ready for a cross-country flight to visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
5. Some tough timing
One set of games where the timing doesn’t favor the 49ers comes in the two contests leading up to the Bye. San Francisco will play Monday night at home against the Carolina Panthers in Week 12. Then they turn around and visit the Cleveland Browns for a 10:00am Pacific Time kick in Week 13. That game in Cleveland could be dangerous. A similar stretch in 2023 featured a road Monday Night Football game vs. the Minnesota Vikings, and then a early kick for a road game against the Browns the following week. The 49ers lost both of those games.
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6. Possible extended stay?
San Francisco could have an opportunity for a long road trip this year where they don’t come home between two road games. In Week 8 they’re at the Houston Texans. They follow that with a trip to New York to face the New York Giants in Week 9. That may be a spot with back-to-back 10:00am Pacific Time kickoffs where the 49ers may stay somewhere on the East Coast to limit some of the impacts of a couple long road trips. The Texans game is San Francisco’s shortest non-division flight of the season. It makes sense that they’d try and chop off some of the length of the next week’s trip as well.
7. Late-season push opportunity
The 49ers will be in a good spot to make a late postseason push after their Week 14 Bye. San Francisco is home after their Bye week against the Tennessee Titans. Then they have a Monday Night Football game followed by a Sunday Night Football game. A home game after the Bye followed by an extra day off for MNF, followed by a late kick the following Sunday should be helpful for a team with some aging veterans.
8. Lot of early starts
San Francisco has five kickoffs slated for 10:00am Pacific Time. It’s their most since the 2021 season, and tied for the most in the Kyle Shanahan era. They had five early window kicks in 2017 and 2021. Under Shanahan, the 49ers are 16-12 on early kickoffs, including a 10-2 stretch from 2019-21.
9. The hardest part
Based on last season’s results the 49ers have the weakest strength of schedule in the NFL this season. There’s a rough stretch early in the year, though that may quickly show their slate of games isn’t as easy as it looks. They have their short week vs. the Rams in Week 5, then they visit the Buccaneers in Week 6 before coming home to host the Atlanta Falcons, then hit the road again for an early start vs. the Houston Texans.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Lots to take away from the San Francisco 49ers 2025 schedule
Reporting by Kyle Madson, Niners Wire / Niners Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
