The 49ers face the NFL’s biggest rest disadvantage in 2024, making them in that situation for the second year in a row.
It’s understandable that the NFL would want to draw more viewers to prime-time matchups, but that comes at a cost for some teams, most notably the 49ers.
Warren Sharpe of Sharpe Football Analysis breaks down the NFL schedule every year and provides detailed analysis of how the 49ers have fared in consecutive seasons.
While teams and their fanbases often complain about scheduling disadvantages, Sharpe puts it in fair perspective.
“For the second year in a row, the 49ers were at a disadvantage due to the timing of the game,” Sharp wrote. “Last year, their net resting edge was -20 days, ranking 32nd. They had four games with a net resting edge of three days or less. Even though they had an average advantage of more than 10 points in all four games. They won only two of their four games, and only covered the spread in one of their four games.
“It’s not fair this year, but they’re back to where they were in 2023.”
Coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday he hasn’t looked closely at the 49ers’ schedule but is aware they will face multiple teams after the bye week, and he maintained he was neutral on the situation.
“I know what we would prefer,” Shanahan said, “but I don’t know until I get there if it’s going to affect me. And there’s a lot going on this year, a lot of things that could go wrong with the schedule. I’d rather it be different, but there’s also a lot that could be worse.”
But even at first glance, there are some obvious places where the 49ers are at an unfair disadvantage.
After appearing in two Thursday night games in 2023, the 49ers will once again be one of six teams scheduled for two short-week prime-time matchups. Playing short weeks seems like a responsibility shared across the NFL, but six teams have taken responsibility: the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, and Tennessee Titans. I owe it. do not have He will be appearing on Thursday Night Football.
One advantage for teams that play on Thursday nights is that they get a “mini-bye” before their next opponent. But that won’t be much of an advantage for the 49ers, who are in the middle of the season and facing the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6 on Oct. 10. Ten days later, San Francisco will host a well-rested Kansas City Chiefs. full They have a bye in Week 6 and then another four days of rest before heading to Santa Clara.
The 49ers will face three teams coming off their bye weeks. They will play the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8 and the Seahawks in Week 11. Both games will be played at Levi’s Stadium.
The third team the 49ers will face after a bye week is the Buffalo Bills, who will receive a bye in Week 12 before San Francisco hosts a chilly “Monday Night Football” contest in Northeast New York on Dec. 1. You will enjoy it.
“I promise you, I didn’t really think about it,” Shanahan said. “[Corry Rush, VP of football communications] “They said they had four players coming off the bye week. I thought, ‘That was the case last year, too.’ So last year there might have been fewer. I don’t know what kind of players they were last year. , I feel like there were a lot of them last year too. So I try not to think about them too much.”
Last season, despite facing many obstacles, the 49ers finished as the No. 1 seed in the NFC and advanced to Super Bowl 53, where they lost to the Chiefs. Kansas City, which faced similar rest issues, did nothing to prove that the NFL’s unfairness can have an impact that changes a team’s fortunes.
Still, if you look at each team’s performance in games where the difference in intermission was noticeable, it’s clear that it affected individual games, but the difference has a clear impact on the season as a whole. Without evidence of that, the NFL isn’t. They tend to make all kinds of changes.
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