The NFL released the 2017 regular season schedule on Thursday, and there are always interesting matchups, notable quirks, and random details. My favorite quirk is probably the fact that the San Francisco 49ers face the Chicago Bears in Chicago in Week 13 for the third straight season. I’m fairly certain it is an entirely random coincidence, but I’d love to see the odds of that.
The most notable opposing player matchup would probably be when the 49ers travel to Indianapolis to face Frank Gore for the first time. He’s the 49ers all-time leading rusher, and stands an excellent chance of getting into the Hall of Fame when his career ends. It would have been cooler to happen in Santa Clara, but this will still tug at the heart strings.
But the game that will be of particular note is Week 6 when the 49ers travel east to face Washington. It’s noteworthy for me because it’s in my backyard out here, but more importantly, it features Kirk Cousins and Kyle Shanahan. The former Washington OC faced them in 2015 in Atlanta, so this marks his first game back at FedEx Field since the end of the Shanahan tenure. There might be a bit of a revenge factor in that.
The other interesting angle is the fact that Washington QB Kirk Cousins has been regularly connected to Shanahan and the 49ers. It seems unlikely a deal happens this offseason, but there is a very real chance the 49ers pursue Cousins next year if he is not franchised.
I don’t expect anything of note to happen during the game between Cousins and Shanahan, but I think we need to make sure the 49ers PR department or NFL Films has Shanahan mic’d up for this game — at least for the pre-game chatter that might take place between him and Cousins!