49ers schedule 2022: 3 ways NFL screwed San Francisco
By Peter Panacy
Reason No. 3: 49ers have to travel to face Seahawks after hosting Tom Brady, Buccaneers
OK, so the Seattle Seahawks are a shell of themselves after trading away the Niners’ longtime nemesis, quarterback Russell Wilson, to the Denver Broncos during the offseason and cutting perennial All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, too.
Ironically enough, San Francisco will face Wilson with the Broncos (Week 3) and Wagner with the Los Angeles Rams (Weeks 4 and 8) this season.
On paper, the 49ers should have little trouble winning their Week 15 road contest versus the Hawks in Seattle. Except for the fact the Niners are the road team, and it’s a short week on Thursday Night Football awfully late in the season, which never bodes well for teams ideally looking to get that short week out of the way early in the year.
Making things worse, San Francisco will host a high-profile Week 14 matchup at Levi’s Stadium against future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady and a Super Bowl-contending Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad (a matchup that should have been prime time in itself) before having to travel north on the short week.
Ideally, these two games should have been flipped, and/or another Thursday night designation should have been assigned. The 49ers should have faced their archrival Seahawks on a full week’s rest, while hosting Brady and the Bucs in a primetime showdown a week later.