SANTA CLARA — What could be bigger for the 49ers than opening the season on “Monday Night Football” at home against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets?
Well, check back at Levi’s Stadium on Oct. 20 and there will be a Super Bowl rematch pitting the 49ers against the two-time reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs, a league source confirmed. Plus, Tom Brady will be in the Fox Sports broadcast booth for that Oct. 20 game and 1:25 p.m. kickoff.
Those marquee matchups are just a glimpse of what awaits the 49ers’ NFC Championship defense.
The NFL will reveal its entire schedule Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The 49ers’ season-opening matchup certainly is primetime worthy as Rodgers and the Jets come into Levi’s Stadium for a Sept. 9 kickoff at 5:20 p.m. (ESPN).
Starting the season in prime time will be a first in coach Kyle Shanahan’s eight seasons. The 49ers’ last season debut on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” was the year before Shanahan arrived, when the 49ers shut out the Los Angeles Rams 28-0 in 2016.
The last time the 49ers hosted the Jets in a season opener, Garrison Hearst delivered arguably the greatest run in franchise history: a 96-yard touchdown run for a 36-30 overtime win in 1998 at Candlestick Park.
Rodgers, a Chico native and Cal product, is coming off an Achilles tear from last season’s Jets’ opener on Monday Night Football. He got hurt on the fourth snap when sacked by Buffalo’s Leonard Floyd, who was this offseason’s prized free agent acquisition by the 49ers.
Rodgers went 0-4 against the 49ers in the playoffs during his Green Bay Packers tenure, from 2005 to 2022. The 40-year-old quarterback is 6-3 in regular-season action against his childhood team, having won 30-28 in his last visit on Sept. 26, 2021.
It’s not so much Rodgers vs. Purdy as it is Rodgers vs. 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, and Purdy vs. Jets pass rusher Haason Reddick, who injured Purdy’s throwing elbow in the NFC Championship Game two years ago in Philadelphia.
The 49ers are 11-3 all-time against the Jets. They last met in Week 2 of the 2020 season at MetLife Field, and the 49ers prevailed 31-13 despite season-ending knee injuries to Bosa and Solomon Thomas. The Jets’ only previous visit to Levi’s Stadium saw them post an overtime win on Dec. 11, 2016 against Colin Kaepernick and coach Chip Kelly.
Robert Saleh enters his fourth season as the Jets’ coach, after previously serving four years as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, a role that Nick Sorensen was promoted to fill this offseason. Saleh is one of four coaches on the 49ers’ schedule who previously worked with or under Shanahan, the others being Matt LaFleur (Packers), Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins) and Sean McVay (Rams).
The #49ers and #Jets met week 1, 1998.@garrisonhearst5 ended the game with a 96 yard TD run in overtime
36-30 #49ers pic.twitter.com/SYqVxphuzG— Old Time Football 🏈 (@Ol_TimeFootball) May 14, 2024
The 49ers had opened five of their past six seasons on the road, including their NFC-winning campaigns in 2019 and last year.
The 49ers will hold joint practices in August against the New Orleans Saints at UC Irvine, prior to facing each other in the second preseason game at Levi’s Stadium, according to Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
The Chiefs will come into Levi’s Stadium in Week 7, as they did two years ago when they won 44-23; the 49ers won their next 12 games before losing in the NFC Championship Game.
The 49ers’ other home games will be against the Rams, the Seattle Seahawks, the Chicago Bears, the New York Jets, the New England Patriots, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Detroit Lions, the latter of whom lost to the 49ers in last season’s NFC Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium.
An eight-game road schedule will send the 49ers to the Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks, Packers, Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Billsand Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 49ers have reached the NFC Championship Game in four of the past five seasons, and they’re coming off their second Super Bowl loss under Shanahan, this past one being an overtime loss to the Chiefs in Las Vegas three months ago.
Tuesday, the 49ers changed up their lines by signing offensive tackle Chris Hubbard and defensive tackle Shakel Brown to one-year deals; defensive lineman Earnest Brown IV and offensive lineman Corey Luciano were waived.
Five prime-time kickoffs figure to be on the agenda for a third straight season. Shanahan’s 49ers are 15-13 under the lights: 0-1 in 2017, 1-2 in 2018, 5-1 in 2019, 1-3 in 2020, 1-3 in 2021, 4-1 in 2022, and 3-2 last season.
As for this season’s prime-time opener, the Jets took major steps this offseason to better protect Rodgers with new offensive tackles, signing former Dallas Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith and spending their first-round draft pick on Olu Fashanu (No. 11 overall, Penn State). Mike Williams, formerly of the Los Angeles Chargers, bolsters the wide receiver corps that includes 2022 first-round pick Garrett Wilson and 2024 third-rounder Malachi Corley. Running back Breece Hall was an Iowa State teammate of the 49ers’ Purdy.
Reigning NFL rushing champion Christian McCaffrey will run into a Jets defense whose coordinator is former 49ers linebacker Jeff Ulbrich; the 49ers reportedly sought Ulbrich to replace Steve Wilks as their coordinator before the Jets blocked that potential lateral move. Javon Kinlaw, the 49ers’ 2020 top draft pick, left in free agency to join the Jets’ defensive front that includes Reddick and two-time Pro Bowler Quinnen Williams. Locking down the secondary is two-time All-Pro Sauce Gardner.
The 49ers’ offseason program is currently in its fifth week, with organized team activities set to begin Monday. Mandatory minicamp is June 4-6.
The preseason schedule is also expected to come out Wednesday in terms of who and when the 49ers will play before and after hosting New Orleans. By the way, the 49ers will hope to end the season in New Orleans in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9. Last year the 49ers held joint scrimmages with the Raiders in Las Vegas before returning there six months later for Super Bowl LVIII.
Thus far, the NFL has announced this season’s following games:
WEEK 1
Thursday, Sept. 5 (5:20 p.m. PT, NBC)
Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs
Friday, Sept. 6 (Time TBA, Peacock)
Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paulo Brazil
Sunday, Sept. 8 (1:25 p.m., Fox)
Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns
Monday, Sept. 9 (5:20 p.m., ESPN)
Jets at 49ers
WEEK 2
Thursday, Sept. 12 (5:15 p.m., Prime)
Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins
Sunday, Sept. 15 (1:25 p.m. PT, CBS)
Cincinnati Bengals at Chiefs
