The 49ers are heading into Week 1 with a strange one on the calendar, and Kyle Shanahan isn’t pretending to love it.
San Francisco opens against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday in a game that will make NFL history as the first-ever league matchup in Australia. Shanahan has already taken aim at the concept, and his latest line may have been the sharpest yet.
He said the NFL "let the Rams off the hook" by taking away what would've been a 49ers home game. If the game were played in the States, the teams would have met at the Rams’ SoFi Stadium.
That was said with a little humor, but the point lands. 49ers fans regularly show up in force at SoFi for NFC West games, so moving the matchup to Melbourne strips away the kind of crowd edge San Francisco could have had in Southern California. Instead, the game becomes far more neutral than a typical divisional meeting.
Even so, the Australia trip is not the toughest travel challenge waiting on the 49ers’ schedule.
After Week 1, San Francisco gets 10 days to get back home and regroup before three straight home games. The start of the season is relatively manageable from a travel standpoint, especially with two of the first three opponents projected to be among the worst teams in the league. The long flight is the headline now, but it is not where the grind really begins.
That comes later. From Week 13 on, the schedule turns ugly.
Four of the final six games are on the road, and the two home dates in that stretch come against the Rams and the Eagles. The 49ers will also be traveling to New York, Los Angeles, Kansas City, and Arizona during that run.
It’s the kind of finish no coach would willingly sign up for. Shanahan may be annoyed about Melbourne now, but if he had a choice, he’d probably trade some of that easy early slate for a cleaner finish down the stretch.
And that final stretch gets even heavier when you factor in another international game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11.
By the time December arrives, the 49ers could be dealing with a schedule that keeps asking them to fly, reset, and do it all over again. Whether they’re chasing the division or hanging onto a playoff spot, the back half of the year is built to test them. If they get through it cleanly, it will say plenty about how tough this team really is.
In Other News...
49ers Defensive Line Just Took A Tough Hit Before Week 1
The 49ers defensive front took another hit just before Week 1, losing Sam Okuayinonu to a broken foot and an immediate trip to Injured Reserve. The injury is serious enough to require surgery, and it removes a depth piece from a group that already figures to be under constant pressure to stay healthy and productive over the opening stretch of the season.
Khalid Kareem was brought in on the practice squad to help fill the vacancy on the defensive line, giving San Francisco another body as it adjusts its early-season rotation. For a unit that leans heavily on its front to set the tone, Okuayinonus absence leaves the 49ers having to sort out how much they can ask from the rest of the group while waiting for one of their edge options to get back in the mix. [Read more 🡒]
Shanahan Just Touched A 49ers Rams Dynamic Fans Know Too Well
Kyle Shanahans reaction to the 49ers season-opening trip to Australia sounded a lot like the way he has long talked about the NFC West road environment in Los Angeles: the label on the schedule does not always match the feel in the stands. Even with the Rams listed as the home team for the overseas game, Shanahan made it clear that San Franciscos fan base has a way of showing up where it matters, and he expects plenty of red in Melbourne too.
For the 49ers, the bigger issue is less the optics than the edge case built into any game played on another continent. Shanahan pointed out that every week matters across an 18-week season, and a unique opener like this one can shape the competitive balance before the schedule really settles in. It is a reminder that for a team used to leaning on its own crowd and routine, this one already feels a little different from the usual division setup. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Just Got A Week 1 Rams Update That Changes Things
Sean McVay has given the 49ers a clearer picture of what they can expect in Week 1, and it points to a familiar problem being available from the start. Puka Nacua, who has been dealing with psoas soreness, is expected to play when the Rams open the 2026 season against San Francisco. For a 49ers defense that will be trying to set the tone early, the news matters because Nacua has quickly become one of the most important pieces in Los Angeles passing game.
The matchup gets an added wrinkle because it will be played in Melbourne, Australia, the first NFL international game in that country. There had also been some questions around possible discipline under the leagues personal conduct policy, but Nacuas off-field situation is not expected to affect his Week 1 availability. So instead of a short-handed opener, the 49ers now have to prepare as if they will be seeing one of the Rams top targets right away on a stage far from home. [Read more 🡒]