Kyle Shanahan shares what he looks at with NFL schedule release

What does an NFL head coach look at when the league’s schedule is released? Kyle Shanahan provided some insight about that subject during an interview on the NFL’s schedule release show no Thursday.

The San Francisco 49ers head emphasized that he does not look at matchups too much because it’s so hard to determine which teams will be good or bad. His Niners are a perfect example of that, as they went from 4-12 in 2018 to 13-3 last season.

“Then you get into the season and you learn half the stuff year-to-year flips, injuries completely change. So if it’s after Week 4, who knows what team you’re going to have compared to Week 1, when injuries happen. I rarely look at how many tough games you have in a row, the tough stuff, because it changes year-to-year,” Shanahan said.

Then he explained his focus.

“My biggest thing is: I want to know where the Thursday game is, who you have, whether it’s home or away; how many Monday night games; how many Sunday night games; how many trips you have to travel through two time zones – that’s a really big deal for us being on the West Coast; how many days you have to recover; when’s your bye week; and when’s your Thursday game so you can plan. That’s the stuff to me that’s the biggest thing with your schedule.”

Shanahan’s 49ers have a Thursday night game against the Packers in Week 9. They have the Bills on a Monday night in Week 13. Beyond that, most of their games are on Sundays, which seems to be something Shanahan likes.