Immediately after their thrilling 42-38 Sunday Night Football victory over the Chicago Bears to keep alive their hopes of securing the top seed in the NFC playoff picture, the San Francisco 49ers found out they'd host their in-division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, on Saturday, Jan. 3 in a tilt that'll ultimately determine both the NFC West winner and the No. 1 seed in the postseason.
It's not ideal.
This means another short week for head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad, which was already dealing with a short ahead of the Bears game after upending the Indianapolis Colts on the road the previous Monday Night Football.
"I wish it wasn't [a short week]," Shanahan told reporters after beating Chicago. "I mean, we just had a short week, so I really wish it would've been Sunday, but it is what it is. Hopefully the guys can heal up and be ready to go."
That means three games in the span of 13 days, which isn't ideal for a Niners team hoping for good news on the injury front, specifically tight end George Kittle (ankle) and left tackle Trent Williams (hamstring), who'll now be denied an extra day of anticipated rest and recovery.
But, as bad as that might be for San Francisco, one could make the argument it's actually worse for the Hawks.
Seahawks might suffer more than 49ers for Week 18 scheduling quirk
It was mentioned frequently during the Sunday Night Football broadcast: Should the 49ers win on Sunday against Seattle, they won't have to play another road game again all the way through to (potentially) the Super Bowl, which is at Levi's Stadium, in case you forgot.
Road teams automatically have a major disadvantage traveling on short weeks, so the Seahawks already have that working against them.
However, as Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer pointed out after Saturday's game was announced, the Hawks also had to return from an East Coast trip to beat the Carolina Panthers, further putting pressure on head coach Mike Macdonald's team to adjust and cram preparations for yet another road trip in back-to-back weeks:
This is kind of crappy for Seattle, to be honest.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) December 29, 2025
They're traveling back from the East Coast tonight, and then have to go on the road again on a short week to try and win their division and the 1 seed. https://t.co/X4Kcq3sHKY
Meanwhile, the Niners are on the polar opposite of the home-away short-week spectrum, enjoying the luxury of staying at home in spite of losing an extra day to prepare for a crucial in-division showdown.
Considering what's at stake for both teams, San Francisco will happily take whatever advantage it can get before Saturday evening.