Dieter Kurtenbach: The NFL handed the 49ers a wicked 2026 schedule. It could have been worse.

Dieter Kurtenbach, Bay Area News Group on May 14, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

I don’t need to log on to the cesspools that are social media to know the fan narrative around the 49ers’ 2026 schedule, which the NFL released on Thursday.

To sum it all up in a word that’s printable, let’s go with “unfair.”

As if there was any other option.

The Niners were handed the easiest schedule in recent NFL history for the 2025 campaign. It was basically a spa retreat with chin straps. And, they made the most of it, earning a playoff berth despite seemingly everything going wrong for them during the campaign — so much went wrong that conspiracy theories had to be produced out of thin (EMF-filled?) air.

Time-and-date karma was always going to boomerang.

And the Not Fair League made that literal. The league giveth, and the league sendeth you to another hemisphere.

But if you look closely at the Niners’ schedule, it’s really not as bad as the knee-jerkers screaming into the digital void would make you think.

Yes, there are two international trips, including one to the literal other side of the world — a destination that makes Mexico City’s 7,200 feet of altitude seem like a leisurely stroll down the block, making the Niners the league’s official guinea pigs for global domination. They’re estimated to travel more than any team in NFL history this fall.

But it could have been so much worse. The NFL did look out for the Niners on the way back from opening the season against the Rams in Australia, scheduling the Dolphins as the team’s Week 2 home opponent. Given that the Niners’ body clocks are going to be knocked so far out of whack they’ll feel like they’re operating on a Martian Sol calendar, providing them one of the NFL’s worst teams for the return trip is an act of grace. That game, of course, will be a toss-up now. Any other squad and it would have been a guaranteed schedule loss — NBA-style. But facing Miami is the closest thing the NFL has to a bye week, only with tickets sold.

The Niners also have no holiday games and, unlike the Rams, aren’t the league’s go-to prime-time draw. LA will play seven — the maximum — games in prime time. Because nothing screams “must-see TV” like Sean McVay aggressively chewing gum under the stadium lights.

Perhaps the networks are just trying to drive McVay off the sidelines and into a booth.

Meanwhile, the Niners have five: that first one in Australia (ahh, the rich, historic tradition of a Friday morning local kickoff time), the Mexico City game, a home Monday night tilt with Washington in Week 6, a late-November Thursday night game in L.A. (an easier commute than mine from Alameda to Santa Clara), and a Week 17 Sunday night game with the Eagles. (Which can always be flexed to a normal hour once Philly inevitably collapses).

Sure, they’re racking up frequent flyer miles at a pace that makes corporate consultants blush. This schedule sounds like a logistical nightmare — an itinerary requiring a valid passport, an oxygen tank, and a phone full of apps that claim to hack your circadian rhythm. The equipment staff needs to ask for a raise before this season begins.

But the NFL didn’t draft this gauntlet just to maliciously punish Kyle Shanahan, even if he is a world-class complainer who generally looks like he expects the waiter to drop hot soup in his lap.

No, the league is simply cashing its chips. No favorites here.

The locals will whine. They’ll point out that crossing the Pacific Ocean to play a division rival is a cruel, unusual joke.

But hey, this is a cruel, unusual game.

We can all agree that the Niners’ itinerary in 2026 is going to be brutal and unprecedented. You’re going to hear about it from the team, week after week, for five-plus months.

(The Week 8 bye is going to be a particular point of aggravation, I predict.)

Perhaps the Niners should have said “thank you” when the league handed them their gift of a 2025 slate.

But the schedule is public, and the gears of the machine are moving around it. There’s revenue to be made, folks, and isn’t that what this is all about?

So pack a neck pillow (or a Brian Cox-vintage neck roll) and swallow the bitter pill.

Maybe it’ll help you sleep on your long flight.