Since 2018, the San Francisco 49ers are 11-2 on trips to the eastern time zone (including a 2019 trip with a thrilling victory in New Orleans). But the 49ers are only 3-5 in games following an eastern time zone trip. So they've been great on east coast trips (or eastern time zone), but not in the games returning home.
Sunday the 49ers face the Atlanta Falcons in a pivotal game that could have a huge impact on the NFC postseason picture. The 49ers, of course, are coming off of a trip to the eastern time zone, where the it defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime. The question is, will this trend continue on Sunday, or will the 49ers take care of business and beat a lesser team, as they should?
We only need to go back two years, another week-15 game, when the 49ers returned home after a two-week trip to the east coast. San Francisco hosted the Atlanta Falcons, a team the 49ers were clearly better than. It should have been a game to help clinch homefield advantage in the NFC playoffs, but instead, the 49ers could not figure out how to stop Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones. Jones had a field day, and scored the winning touchdown for Atlanta.
So what other games have the 49ers dropped, following eastern time zone trips? Here are the 49ers' losses from games following a trip to the eastern time zone, since 2018:
December 2, 2018: San Francisco lost to the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, following a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the week before. But the 49ers always lose in Seattle, so this isn't anything unusual. (The 49ers did win its next home game against the Denver Broncos. So technically, this one could go either way. I counted it as a loss, since the team returned to the west coast and suffered a loss after the east coast trip.)
September 22, 2019: The 49ers defeated the Pittsburg Steelers at home, following a road trip to Tampa and Cincinnati. San Francisco had defeated the Buccaneers and the Bengals, and after a tough game against the Steelers, came out on top to improve to 3-0 on the season.
October 27, 2019: After a rainy and muddy win in Washington the week before, the 49ers returned to Levi's Stadium and destroyed the Carolina Panthers 51-13.
December 15, 2019: This is the game I referred to above. The 49ers had split the two-week road trip leading up to this game, losing in Baltimore, but winning in New Orleans. It was an impressive feat, coming away with at least one win on a difficult road trip. But the joy didn't last long, as the 49ers dropped the next game to the Falcons, losing 29-22. Raheem Mostert and Matt Breida both lost fumbles in this game. Meanwhile, the defense had no answer for Julio Jones, who had 13 catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
October 4, 2020: This was the week the 2020 season fell apart. Actually, it began to unravel during the two-week east coast trip leading up to this game. During the east coast trip, the 49ers looked like the NFC Champions, destroying the New York Giants and the New York Jets in back-to-back weeks. But those victories proved costly, as the team lost Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas and Dee Ford for the season. On this trip, Jimmy Garoppolo also sustained an injury, a high-ankle sprain, that would cost him much of the season. The team returned home, only to lose to the Philadelphia Eagles, in a game that Nick Mullens threw two costly interceptions.
November 5, 2020: After defeating the New England Patriots on the east coast, and losing to the Seahawks in Seattle, the 49ers returned home to face the Green Bay Packers, the team San Francisco knocked out of the playoffs almost 10 months prior. But this one didn't go as well, as the 49ers (playing with almost no wide receivers) couldn't keep up with Aaron Rodgers.
September 26, 2021: The 49ers opened the season in the eastern time zone, winning two games while out east. The team defeated the Detroit Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles. But coming back home saw the post-eastern time zone curse continue, and for the second straight season, the 49ers lost to the Green Bay Packers, this time after scoring the go-ahead touchdown with only :36 remaining. Then the defense forgot to cover Devonte Adams...and you probably remember what happened next.
November 28, 2021: The Jacksonville Jaguars were no match for the 49ers, and the Minnesota Vikings didn't prove to be much more challenging the following week, when the 49ers returned to Santa Clara.
So the 49ers have had a lot of success in the eastern time zone. It's been the games returning to the west coast, after those trips east, that have been the issue. Will the trend continue on Sunday?
I am confident the 49ers will win this game against the Falcons. The number of injuries San Francisco is currently dealing with is concerning, but the Falcons have struggled against good teams this year. So I expect the 49ers to break the post-eastern time zone curse and move one step closer to postseason play.