Predicting every primetime national TV game for 49ers this season

As a top Super Bowl contender, the 49ers should get the maximum amount of primetime games in 2024. But against which opponents?

The San Francisco 49ers have been must-watch television over the last few years.

A year ago, amid their run to the Super Bowl, the Niners received the maximum number of primetime games a team can receive with five. Granted, every NFL team is supposed to receive at least one Thursday Night Football primetime game. But, with recent rule changes in place, flexing was allowed.

So, San Francisco received two Thursday night games as part of their primetime schedule.

The list of opponents is already known. Yet we won't officially know the 49ers' 2024 primetime games until the league officially releases the upcoming regular-season schedule, perhaps on Thursday, May 9.

But we can predict both a max of five primetime, nationally televised games for the Niners, and we should also predict the teams San Francisco will play for those contests.

Let's see if we can correctly guess which primetime games the 49ers will have (and against whom).

Heck, we'll even try predicting which week.

Predicting each 49ers primetime game on 2024 NFL schedule

Week 13 vs. Seahawks -- Thursday Night Football

Let's start off with the easiest of the bunch.

The Niners have visited their NFC West rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, for the last two late-season Thursday Night Football matchups, the most recent one happening on Thanksgiving.

While a late-season Thursday night repeat of this seemingly growing tradition seems appropriate, it's time for the Hawks to visit Levi's Stadium for a change.

Week 7 @ Packers -- Sunday Night Football

San Francisco knocked off the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round last season, and these two teams have a noteworthy playoff rivalry that dates back to the 1990s.

This time, though, the 49ers would be visiting Lambeau Field early enough not to replicate their miraculous divisional round victory in the postseason back in January of 2022 amid a frozen tundra.

Besides, the main characters have changed. It'd be quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Jordan Love battling it out against each other, not Jimmy Garoppolo versus Aaron Rodgers.

Week 16 @ Dolphins -- Monday Night Football

The Niners would much prefer a road trip to south Florida in December than to Green Bay at that time of year, so visiting the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football would be a good blessing for a cross-country road game late in the season.

Head coach Mike McDaniel of the Dolphins would relish the chance to knock off his mentor, head coach Kyle Shanahan, in front of a national audience. That alone would be worth watching as these two offensive gurus go head to head in an NFC-AFC showdown.

Week 6 vs. Cowboys -- Sunday Night Football

Nothing quite boosts the rating like putting two longstanding rivals in a head-to-head matchup like San Francisco and the Dallas Cowboys.

The 49ers stomped all over Dallas in a 42-10 rout on Sunday Night Football in Week 5 last year, which should provide plenty of incentive for a grudge match in front of a national audience a year later.

Considering the fact the Niners have won their last three tilts against the Cowboys, including two postseason games, it's probably a safe bet to assume Shanahan's squad comes out on top once more.

Week 2 vs. Chiefs -- Monday Night Football

The NFL will probably hand the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs an easy home matchup in Week 1 to kick off the 2024 regular-season schedule. That way, KC can embrace its trophy-hoisting home opener with a good chance of starting off the year 1-0.

That said, there's no way the league can avoid passing on making a Super Bowl rematch between Kansas City and San Francisco a primetime showdown.

It'd be smart to do it early in the season, too, especially with memories still very raw and fresh of the 49ers' overtime defeat last February.

Closing out Week 2 with such a bout seems like the right way to go.