The 49ers’ 2019 season may include some of their most important road games in the last five years. A road trip can’t be an excuse if the team plans on being a contender in the playoffs. They have a slew of tough road challenges and need to overcome them to prove their worthiness of a playoff spot.
Not all these road games are created equal though. If a 49ers fan was planning on traveling to games, they should choose strategically based on whether, matchup and timing.
Here’s a ranking to help decide which 49ers road games to attend this year, with all of the 49ers’ road bouts ranked from best to worst:
Week 14 at Saints
Here’s a tip: go to New Orleans whenever you get a chance. The fans are incredible and the city is amazing. Not to mention the amount of playoff implications this could have. This is hands down the best 49ers road game of the year.
Week 13 at Ravens
Baltimore on December 1 doesn’t sound great, but a late-season game against a possible AFC contender should be fun. Lamar Jackson is electric and worth seeing in person as well. As long as it’s not snowing and these two teams are in the playoff hunt, this will be a fun game to be at.
Week 7 at Washington
There’s not a much better time to head to the East Coast than the middle of October. Washington may not be very good this year. San Francisco may not be either if a few things don’t go their way. This may be a really fun one though because if the 49ers are going to be in contention – this game will be a turning point.
Week 6 at Rams
Make a weekend trip to Los Angeles in mid-October. The weather is perfect during the fall and it’s LA so there’s plenty non-football things to do. The 49ers will be coming off a Monday night game against the Browns too. This matchup with the Rams will have big-time stakes.f they’re 3-1 or 4-0 through their first four games.
Week 17 at Seahawks
This may be pushed down some lists depending on a person’s tolerance of Seahawks fans. It could wind up going higher if this is effectively a late-season playoff game. In a vacuum though, Seattle at the end of December can be potentially nasty, so it gets shoved down despite the potential stakes in a divisional showdown.
Week 2 at Bengals
The only thing saving this from being at the bottom is timing. This may be a great game between two teams that eventually make the playoffs. It may also be a disaster with two struggling teams feeling the season out still in the second week. The odds of this being a game worth traveling to aren’t great.
Week 9 at Cardinals
The Cardinals don’t play in Phoenix. They play in Glendale. That’s a significant downgrade. A traveler could stay in Phoenix, but overall the Cardinals’ game day experience isn’t great, it’s Halloween night, and it’ll probably still be hot in the desert. Yes, the Cardinals play indoors, but there’s no guarantee the rest of the trip won’t be savaged by heat.
Week 1 at Buccaneers
No thanks to Tampa Bay in early September in the afternoon. That game is going to be hot, muggy and might wind up a total disaster from a football standpoint. Traveling to games is a fun time. Traveling to Tampa Bay to sit in the humidity to watch a couple of non-playoff teams duke it out in Week 1 sounds way less fun.
