NFL fans begin making plans for their post-August Sundays (with some Mondays and Thursdays mixed in) when the league's regular-season schedule is released. They also start predicting records, which is an odd thing to do in April before the draft has even taken place.
Then you have the complaining. There are several reasons at first glance not to like the San Francisco 49ers' schedule. Two straight road games to kick off the season, an early bye during Week 4, and a brutal six-game finish are just a few.
Then you have reasons which are not quickly apparent at first glance. Like the 49ers being one of just six teams which are playing multiple games against opponents coming off their bye weeks.
Not everyone is so down on the 49ers' schedule. One person who looked at it and probably smiled was tight end George Kittle. Unlike fans, his eyes probably immediately went straight for the latter half of the schedule. Kittle spoke to reporters on Wednesday and explained what he looks for when the NFL unveils its schedule.
"Honestly, the first thing that I look at is where I'm going to be playing in November and December where it's cold," Kittle said. "Because when we got the schedule last year, it said we were playing in Green Bay in [October]. I was super excited about it.
"I left the Midwest because I don't like the cold and I'm excited that we play in warm weather all the time."
Kittle will be happy to know that the 49ers will play in just three road during November and December — against the Baltimore Ravens, New Orleans Saints, and Seattle Seahawks. None of those games will take place in November when the 49ers will play each of their three games in Santa Clara.
Baltimore averages a high of 47 degrees and a low of 33 degrees in December. That's the worst of it.
The Saints play indoors, so the weather is not a factor. Seattle can be chilly in December, averaging a high of 46 degrees and a low of 37 degrees. And that game against the Seahawks is actually in late-December and is the last game of the season. But that's it.
All in all, Kittle is probably happy with the schedule. Road trips to Cincinnati (Bengals) and Landover (Redskins) take place in September and October, respectively, so the 49ers tight end got lucky there. It could have been worse.
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