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49ers will travel the third most miles of any NFL team in 2020

The drawback of being a West Coast team.

By Jas Kang
Photo by Rich Graessle/PPI/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The San Francisco 49ers will be spending a lot of time traveling during the 2020 season.

ESPN’s Brian Burke calculated how much distance each NFL team will cover next year and it is no surprise to see the 49ers coming in third.

All of the NFL’s West Coast teams deal with this issue every year, compared to their eastern counterparts, where the travel between cities is much less. There is not much the team can do to mitigate the geographical differences.

San Francisco will fly 29,700 miles in 2020, just over 4,000 more than did they when they made the Super Bowl last season.

The 49ers will get their two 10 A.M. PT games out of the way early, taking on both New York teams back-to-backs in Weeks 1 and 2. San Francisco will leave the Pacific Time Zone four more times after that; in Week 7 against New England, Week 10 against New Orleans, Week 15 in Dallas, and the short Week 16 trip to Arizona, which isn’t a big deal.

Some of the other notable findings from the Niners 2020 schedule are:

  • San Francisco will play on a short week three times, depending on the road game against the Cardinals being scheduled for Saturday.
  • The Niners play the least amount of 10 A.M. PT games out of all the NFL teams, compared to four each for the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks.
  • San Francisco only has to play two games where it will have lest rest than its opponents.
  • The 49ers have three back-to-back road trips on their schedule. (Weeks 1 and 2 against the New York teams, Week 7 in New England followed by a road game in Seattle, Week 15 at Dallas followed by a road game in Arizona.

The Niners will never have an ideal schedule, but overall I am pretty happy with how the NFL set them up for 2020. The back-to-back games against the Jets and Giants followed by three-straight home games should allow the team to get off to a good start. The toughest part of the schedule is Weeks 7 through 10 where they will face the Pats, Seahawks, Packers and Saints. The good news is that San Francisco will have its bye in Week 11.

Regardless of how many miles they have to travel, the Niners are favorites to repeat as NFC champions.

Are you happy with the 49ers’ 2020 schedule?

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