NFL schedule 2015: 49ers could stay in Youngstown between Week 13, 14

The San Francisco 49ers 2015 schedule was released Tuesday afternoon, and while it does not feature any extended home stands, it also only features two sets of back-to-back road games.

Earlier this year, Jed York said the team requested two of their non-divisional road games be back-to-back. The reason for that was to potentially take advantage of the DeBartolo/York home in Youngstown, Ohio. During the Jim Harbaugh era, the 49ers twice stayed in Youngstown in between back-to-back road games. It allows the team to combat some of the issues of jet lag by staying in the midwest before moving on to an eastern time zone game.

Looking at the 49ers 2015 schedule, it would appear the team is set up for such a stay between Weeks 13 and 14. The 49ers travel to face the Chicago Bears in Week 13, and then travel to face the Cleveland Browns in Week 14. Youngstown is 400 driving miles from Chicago, and only 75 driving miles from Cleveland. The 49ers travel to Pittsburgh and then Arizona Weeks 2 and 3, but it would not make any sense to stay in Youngstown between those two games given that Arizona is much closer to the Bay Area, and only one time zone away.

There are two interesting aspects to a potential December Youngstown stay. The first is weather. The average temperature that time of year is mid to high 30s. That's not the end of the world for a lot of people, but I can't imagine a Bay Area team would overly enjoy that. The second is the travel issue. The team would fly from Chicago to Youngstown, but then would likely end up bussing from Youngstown to Cleveland. It is 75 driving miles, and I don't know that they would be making that flight. A 75-mile bus ride is not that big a deal, but for larger individuals, that is probably not the most comfortable of options.