NFL playoffs: Will the 49ers play next Saturday or Sunday?

By beating the Seahawks, the 49ers have advanced to the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. Will they play next Saturday or Sunday?

After trailing at the end of the first half, the NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers dominated the second half of Saturday afternoon’s Wild Card game against the Seattle Seahawks to secure a 41-23 victory.

The win sends the No. 2 seed 49ers to the Divisional Round for the third time in the last four years, and it gives them their second home game in this round during that span.

They defeated the Minnesota Vikings at home in the 2019 Divisional Round, and they beat the Green Bay Packers on the road in last year’s Divisional Round.

Will the 49ers’ next playoff game come next Saturday or next Sunday? That will probably depend on who they play.

The No. 5 Dallas Cowboys are scheduled to face the No. 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night to wrap up Super Wild Card Weekend, meaning that the winner will probably not be in action until next Sunday.

A Saturday game would only mean four days of rest for the winner, and that isn’t something that the NFL will favor when scheduling next week’s slate of games.

If the No. 3 seed Vikings beat the No. 6 seed New York Giants this Sunday afternoon in their Wild Card matchup, the Vikings will be headed to Santa Clara for another Divisional Round date with the 49ers next weekend, and that game will likely be contested on Saturday since it wouldn’t involve the Cowboys or Buccaneers.

But if the Giants pull off the upset, New York would travel to Philadelphia to take on the No. 1 seed Eagles, meaning the winner of the Cowboys vs. Buccaneers game would get to travel to Levi’s Stadium.

This game would likely be played on Sunday to ensure that the winner of the Monday night Wild Card game doesn’t get shortchanged on rest, while the Giants vs. Eagles game would probably be contested on Saturday.

In short, if the Vikings win, expect the 49ers to play them on Saturday. If the Giants win, expect the 49ers to play on Sunday, but against either the Cowboys or Buccaneers.