The San Francisco 49ers will open with a brutal first half to their 2018 schedule. Their five away games include Minnesota, Kansas City and Green Bay, and they also have some tough opponents coming to Levi’s Stadium as well.
The second half of the schedule lightens up considerably with only three away games, one of which being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the other two being divisional games against the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. Beyond that, it’s home games against the likes of the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears.
It goes without saying, the 49ers will have a much easier second half than first half. For me, choosing one or the other, I’d say I’d take the easier second half. Get that first half of the schedule out of the way so they can focus on the second half. The first couple of games can be crapshoots anyways as teams are getting their grooves so to speak that will last for the season.
At the same time though, getting some early wins against a lighter schedule could help get some padding stockpiled so a team doesn’t have its back against the wall. I recently came across a reddit thread that asked what people would prefer; a easier first or second half of a schedule. The responses were mixed and it definitely got me thinking about what I would prefer.
Honestly, if I was allowed to tinker with everything, I’d just prefer balance above all else. I’d like to not to look at a schedule and say brutal this or easy that. I’d rather it has hard and easy, long road games and a couple nice home games after to make up for it. But I don’t write the schedules and I have to assume it’s a grueling process where you can’t make everyone happy.
What would you prefer? An easier first half and a difficult second half or the other way around?