© Chuck Cook | 2019 Dec 8
With the possibility of losing games due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL is tweaking the schedule for the 2020 season according to longtime NFL reporter John Clayton. Clayton told 93.7 The Fan that the first four games of the season will all be interconference.
“Here’s what I gather, and this makes the most sense,” Clayton said. “We’ll see if it follows the pattern. The season will start off … with the interconference games first, because if they have to shorten the season to 12 games, you wipe those out.”
Because the 49ers are playing the AFC East in 2020, Clayton’s report means San Francisco would face the Dolphins (home), Bills (home), Patriots (away) and Jets (away) in their first four games. Up next would be games against against the Saints (Away) and Packers (Home), who the 49ers are scheduled to play because both NFC teams also finished atop their respective divisions.
“Then after that, you go into your non-common games,” Clayton continued. “That’ll be like Weeks 5 and 6. Remember, these are all home and away, so just kind of circling around like that.”
Clayton said the rest of the season would be as follows: three games vs. the NFC West, three vs. the NFC East, three NFC West games to close the season.
“So, that I think is going to be the premise of how they’re going to do it,” he said. “They’ll probably set it up in two ways. One that they’ll start the season in September and have the Super Bowl on Feb. 8, and then the next one in mid-October with the Super Bowl on Feb. 28, but no bye weeks.”
The 49ers entire schedule will be officially announced on Thursday at 5 PM PT.