The San Francisco 49ers are set to open the 2026 season in Australia against the LA Rams, but head coach Kyle Shanahan is far from thrilled about it. You see, under the NFL’s schedule, teams typically get four days off after wrapping up training camp and their three preseason games. However, that wouldn’t be the case with the Niners.
With the travel, they won’t get the same amount of downtime as every other team except their opponents. The league understood and tried to ease the burden with three consecutive home games after their season opener, but Kyle Shanahan doesn’t see that as much of a benefit.
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“I mean, three home games is irrelevant,” Shanahan bluntly said earlier this week in a media appearance. “That doesn’t mean anything. It means you’re going to have three more road games in December and January. So, that’s my answer on three home games.
“The whole NFL gets three bonus practices and four mandatory days off. We’re traveling on that third day to Australia, so you kind of miss that week to recover and to have those days off and those bonus days. So, it ends up being about a week different from usual.”
The 49ers start with a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Melbourne Cricket Ground as the first NFL game in Australia. For the next three weeks, they’re up against the Miami Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals, and Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium. But Shanahan is more bothered by the fact that his players will miss the standard four days of recovery and practice while traveling from Week 1.
The team is facing a brutal training camp leading up to the battle in Australia. Shanahan has planned to put up joint practices with the Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Chargers before playing against them in preseason exhibition games. But their opponents will be fired up and well rested. And the Niners will lack the proper time to recover before boarding the flight to Australia.
“The people we’ve talked to, you don’t feel normal until like the third or fourth day,” Kyle Shanahan suggested. “So, we’d like to go out seven days early. But, since it takes a day and a half to travel there, we’re going to go nine.”
This early-season imbalance creates a logistical problem down the stretch. The Niners are up against the Chargers in Week 15 at Sofi Stadium, and then they’ll travel to face the KC Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 16. Week 17 offers a home game against the Eagles. And in the final week, the 49ers will play against the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.
Sports Illustrated’s Grant Cohn predicted that the 49ers might lose against the Chargers and Chiefs. But they have a possibility of claiming a win against the Eagles and the Cardinals. Just one win in three on-road games is certainly a tough take for the team.
The 49ers will travel the most distance of any team in a single season. As per Bookies.com’s Bill Speros, they’ll cover 38,105 travel miles this year. Interestingly, the team is also making history with two international games in the same regular season.
By facing the Rams in Australia and the Minnesota Vikings in Mexico City, they become just the second team in NFL history to play international games in two separate countries during a single campaign.
And surprisingly, the initial trip to Australia isn’t actually the longest continuous trip the 49ers will endure this season.
Kyle Shanahan details how he’d tackle the challenges of playing in Mexico City
Compared to Melbourne, Mexico City is about 6,000 miles closer to San Francisco. But what makes the match against the Minnesota Vikings tough in Week 11 is the altitude. The elevation is about 2,000 feet higher than Denver, and players will naturally need time to adjust to that altitude. To combat the thin air, Kyle Shanahan has a plan.
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“We’ll probably go to Colorado Springs again, like we did last time, to get ready for that altitude and then probably go to Mexico City the night before,” Shanahan suggested. “We’ll probably end up; the Mexico City trip will probably be a longer one than the Australia one, just because of that.”
In Week 10, the Niners have a game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Right after that, the 49ers will move to Colorado Springs and prepare themselves for the lower oxygen density in the high altitude for a few days before traveling to Mexico. The timeline remains the same with close longitudes. But the trip itself is a bit longer.
By completely robbing the 49ers of crucial recovery time and burying them under historical travel miles, the NFL has undoubtedly handed San Francisco a massive competitive disadvantage. For now, Shanahan remains thoroughly unhappy with the grueling reality of the team’s international responsibilities.
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