{"id":71044,"date":"2019-08-19T17:15:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T21:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=71044"},"modified":"2019-08-19T17:30:59","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T21:30:59","slug":"san-francisco-49ers-most-difficult-games-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/08\/19\/san-francisco-49ers-most-difficult-games-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco 49ers Most Difficult Games of 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With training camp underway and the preseason in full swing, Last Word on Pro Football is analyzing the schedules of all 32 NFL teams. Each team\u2019s 16-game slate will be split into its most difficult (1-8) and easiest games (9-16). For this article, the <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/49ers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Francisco 49ers<\/a> most difficult games of 2019 will be discussed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/2019\/08\/19\/san-francisco-49ers-easiest-games-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Check out the eight easiest games on the 2019 49ers schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>San Francisco 49ers Most Difficult Games of 2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<h3>Week 14: at <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/saints\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Orleans Saints<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Even though I believe that the Saints won\u2019t be as good as they were last year, there\u2019s still something to be said about going into New Orleans and winning a game there. No matter how good the Saints are, the Superdome is always one of the toughest places to win at in all of sports. It\u2019ll be an interesting challenge for <strong>Kyle Shanahan<\/strong> as he and his team are hopefully making a push towards the playoffs.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week Six: at <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/rams\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Rams<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This will be the first true road test of the 49ers season. Usually around Week Six is when a clearer picture will start to form of who the actual contenders are in the league. This will be the 49ers first matchup of the season against a divisional opponent, and it just so happens to be against the reigning NFC West champions. It\u2019ll be important for the 49ers to make this a statement game and show the rest of the league that they\u2019re finally ready to compete with the rest of the top-tier teams in the NFC.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 13: at <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/ravens\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Baltimore Ravens<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Much like New Orleans, Baltimore is another place that\u2019s extremely difficult to come into and leave with a win. Thankfully for the 49ers, this should be their only cold game of the regular season. They only have two more road games after Baltimore throughout the rest of the season; one against New Orleans and the other in Seattle. This will be a tough game for the 49ers simply given the fact that it\u2019ll be the first week of December and the Ravens will more than likely be the most run-heavy team in the league. Not a team you want to play outside in the cold that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 17: at <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/seahawks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seattle Seahawks<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The 49ers last game of the regular season and it\u2019s at a place that they haven\u2019t won at since 2011. Both teams should be vying to clinch a playoff spot here, so the stakes will be about as high as they can get. The Seahawks are another team that loves to run the ball, so it\u2019ll be important for the 49ers to get on the board early and not let Seattle control the time of possession.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 16: vs <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/rams\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Rams<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The 49ers last two games of the season are against divisional opponents. This exhibition against the Rams will be their last home game of the season, so it\u2019ll be important for the 49ers to secure a win here. The NFC West figures to be much tighter this season, minus the Cardinals, and these 49ers vs Rams games might be some of the best matchups in the entire league. It\u2019ll be important for Kyle Shanahan to finish this season strong, or some folks may start to question the strength of his job security.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 15: vs <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/falcons\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta Falcons<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Atlanta Falcons, barring health, are on my early-season Super Bowl contenders list and my current favorite to represent the NFC in Miami. Thankfully for the 49ers, they get to play the Falcons in San Francisco. The last six weeks of the 49ers\u2019 schedule is brutal, and this Falcons game is slapped right in the middle of it. The 49ers are going to have to display some real mental toughness and endurance if they want to come out of this stretch as a true Super Bowl contender.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 10: vs Seattle Seahawks<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Week 10 will be the first time the 49ers match up with the Seahawks this season. The Seahawks don\u2019t get their bye week until week 11, so they may be coming into this game with some serious mental fatigue. Week 11 is late in the season to have your bye week, so it\u2019ll be important for the 49ers to come out firing. If they can get points on the board early, then the Seahawks might just pack it in and look towards their first week off of the season.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"8\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week Three: vs <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/steelers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This will be the 49ers first real test of the season. It will be the home opener for the 49ers, and it\u2019ll be the first time these two teams have faced each other since 2015. Despite losing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=BrowAn04,BrowAn01&amp;search=Antonio+Brown&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Antonio Brown<\/a><\/strong> and <strong>Le\u2019Veon Bell<\/strong>, the Steelers still figure to be a playoff contender in the AFC. The 49ers will have to make sure that they don\u2019t look past the Steelers in preparation for their by the following week. A game like this can set the tone early for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"uU5fUu2KQNlbsBuMhwMBbA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1158658196\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'uU5fUu2KQNlbsBuMhwMBbA',sig:'Lb4LN_na9sZcWmsohz-mA8pUFGZeDY5dFnL3R_weIZc=',w:'594px',h:'395px',items:'1158658196',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With training camp underway and the preseason fast approaching, Last Word on Pro Football is analyzing the schedules of all 32 NFL teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3003,"featured_media":71058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,31],"tags":[138,115,174,1389,98,192,309,81,52,179],"class_list":["post-71044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-49ers","tag-antonio-brown","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-kyle-shanahan","tag-leveon-bell","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-seattle-seahawks"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3003"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}