It's no secret the San Francisco 49ers are upset at not only having to travel to Melbourne, Australia, to play the Los Angeles Rams to open up the season, but they're additionally upset about having to travel to Mexico City, Mexico, to serve as the home team in Week 11.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has said as much, and he's certainly not alone in those sentiments. So far, while the rest of the 2026 NFL schedule has yet to be confirmed, the Niners are only one of two teams known to have two international games this season. The Jacksonville Jaguars are the other.
The added travel is brutal; San Francisco is typically one of the most well-traveled squads on a year-to-year basis.
But, at least hopefully, the 49ers can bank on the NFL going easy on them over the remainder of their upcoming schedule.
With opponents and home/away games already known, the remaining X-factors will be the weeks in which those bouts are played. Considering how big a draw the Niners are, one can expect several primetime games, which opens up the possibility of having to travel on a short week for Thursday Night Football.
That's one example where San Francisco can hope the NFL will go easy.
Hopefully, NFL takes it easy on 49ers' non-international schedule
If the league schedules the 49ers for Thursday night (it probably will), Shanahan and Co. can hope it's a home game that follows another one of their home tilts at Levi's Stadium. Or, at the very least, a home game following a not-far road trip against a West Coast-based opponent.
But, what other ways should the Niners hope the NFL goes easy on them?
In 2023 and 2024, the storyline surrounding San Francisco's schedule was the rest differential, and the 49ers had it the worst among all 32 teams over the back-to-back years:
Rest difference vs opponents. Tough scene for SF. pic.twitter.com/K7kVXtHQV0
— Brian Burke (@bburkeESPN) May 16, 2024
Perhaps this year, the Niners won't be asked to play so many teams coming off bye weeks and/or Thursday night games.
A year ago, the NFL schedule makers plopped a Saturday night game in Week 18 that followed a Sunday Night Football game the previous week, which in turn, followed a Monday Night Football game the week prior. That equated to three games over a 13-day period, and it was pretty evident San Francisco's defense was gassed during that stretch.
Hopefully, the league takes that sort of thing into account, too, when looking at how to balance proper rest on the schedule.
If the NFL doesn't, however, at least Shanahan, the 49ers and their fans will have something to blame if things ultimately go sour this season.