FOOCH'S NOTE: Official 49ers schedule thread now posted.
I had written this post up to post but there's already rumors leaking. Matt Maiocco has tweeted that rumors are floating around the 49ers will face the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Candlestick on Monday Night Football in December. It's safe to say the NFL has a sense of humor about the Harbaugh brothers when they have them rumored to be doing battle on a day families normally give thanks!
____________
At 4:00pm pacific today on the NFL Network and NFL.com, the NFL will be releasing the 2011 regular season schedule, which means we get to find out the 49ers 2011 Schedule and what excitement lies ahead....assuming football actually lies ahead. For the moment though we can forget about the Lockout and just imagine what could be in 2011. As soon as the schedule is released I'll put together a new thread with the list of games, dates, and times, as well as a few thoughts on the schedule.
In the meantime, we at least know the list of opponents:
Home: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers,Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Away: Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions
Last year at this time we knew the 49ers would have the London game against the Broncos. This year, the most we can guess is that the NFL will place the 49ers-Ravens matchup on national television. Nothing is guaranteed but given that this is the first ever head coach matchup between brothers, I'd be stunned if the NFL decided not to feature the game on Sunday Night Football or Monday Night Football.
Beyond that who really knows what to expect. We'll have the thread up soon. Additionally, while we'll be covering the schedule release here, feel free to check out our 49ers schedule stream at SB Nation Bay Area. Ninjames will be posting the schedule, but also will be using the stream to break down different aspects of the schedule from the primetime games to the bye week to potential playoff implications in Week 17. We'll have plenty of coverage here as well, but the story stream system at the regional site allows for a little more coverage rolled into the same page.
Additionally, the NFL once again has their interactive schedule tool for your perusal. In case you don't feel like checking out every single team's travel distance at that site, be aware that the 49ers lead the league in travel miles in 2011 with 29,196 miles. The Tennessee Titans have the fewest travel miles with 7,060 miles.