SANTA CLARA — Monday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers vs. Brock Purdy. East Coast vs. West Coast. Let the games begin.
The 49ers’ season-opening matchup certainly is prime-time worthy as Rodgers and the New York Jets come into Levi’s Stadium for a Sept. 9 kickoff.
This marks the first time in coach Kyle Shanahan’s eight seasons that the 49ers drew a prime-time opener. Their last season debut on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” was the year before Shanahan arrived, when the 49ers shut out the Los Angeles Rams 28-0 in 2016.
Primetime at our place
We’ll kick off the 2024 season vs the Jets on Monday Night Football. @ESPNNFL x @NFL
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) May 14, 2024
The last time the 49ers hosted the Jets in a season opener, Garrison Hearst delivered arguably the greatest run in franchise history: a 96-yard touchdown run for a 36-30 overtime win in 1998 at Candlestick Park.
Rodgers, a Chico native and Cal product, is coming off an Achilles tear from last season’s Jets’ opener. Rodgers went 0-4 against the 49ers in the playoffs during his Green Bay Packers’ tenure, from 2005 to 2022. The 40-year-old quarterback is 6-3 in regular-season action against his childhood team, having won 30-28 in his last visit on Sept. 26, 2021.
It’s not so much Rodgers vs. Purdy as it is, well, Rodgers vs. 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, and Purdy vs. Jets’ pass rusher Haason Reddick, the latter of whom injured Purdy’s throwing elbow in the NFC Championship Game two years ago in Philadelphia.
The 49ers are 11-3 all-time against the Jets. They last met Week 2 of the 2020 season at MetLife Field, and the 49ers prevailed 31-13 despite season-ending knee injuries to Bosa and Solomon Thomas. The Jets’ only previous visit to Levi’s Stadium saw them post an overtime win on Dec. 11, 2016 against Colin Kaepernick and coach Chip Kelly.
Robert Saleh enters his fourth season as the Jets’ coach, after previously serving four years as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, a role that Nick Sorensen got promoted to fill this offseason. Saleh is one of four coaches on the 49ers’ schedule who previously worked with or under Shanahan, the others being Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers), Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins) and Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams).
The #49ers and #Jets met week 1, 1998.@garrisonhearst5 ended the game with a 96 yard TD run in overtime
36-30 #49ers pic.twitter.com/SYqVxphuzG— Old Time Football (@Ol_TimeFootball) May 14, 2024
The 49ers had opened five of their past six seasons on the road, including their NFC-winning campaigns in 2019 and last year.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the NFL will reveal its entire schedule for the upcoming season, although some dates already have been announced, including Monday’s announcement that the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs will kick off the season against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5.
The 49ers’ other home games will be against the Chiefs, the Rams, the Seattle Seahawks, the Chicago Bears, the New York Jets, the New England Patriots, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Detroit Lions, the latter of whom lost to the 49ers in last season’s NFC Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium.
An eight-game road schedule will send the 49ers to the Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks, Packers, Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Billsand Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 49ers have reached the NFC Championship Game four of the past five seasons, and they’re coming off their second Super Bowl loss under Shanahan, this past one being an overtime loss to the Chiefs in Las Vegas three months ago.
Five prime-time kickoffs figure to be on the agenda for a third straight season. Shanahan’s 49ers are 15-13 under the lights: 0-1 in 2017, 1-2 in 2018, 5-1 in 2019, 1-3 in 2020, 1-3 in 2021, 4-1 in 2022, and 3-2 last season.
As for this season’s prime-time opener, the Jets took major steps this offseason to better protect Rodgers with new offensive tackles, signing former Dallas Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith and spending their first-round draft pick on Olu Fashanu (No. 11 overall, Penn State). Mike Williams, formerly of the Los Angeles Chargers, bolsters the wide receiver corps that includes 2022 first-round pick Garrett Wilson and 2024 third-rounder Malachi Corley. Running back Breece Hall was an Iowa State teammate of the 49ers’ Purdy.
Reigning NFL rushing champion Christian McCaffrey will run into a Jets’ defense whose coordinator is former 49ers linebacker Jeff Ulbrich; the 49ers reportedly sought Ulbrich to replace Steve Wilks as their coordinator before the Jets blocked that potential lateral move. Javon Kinlaw, the 49ers’ 2020 top draft pick, left in free agency to join the Jets’ defensive front that includes Reddick and two-time Pro Bowler Quinnen Williams. Locking down the secondary is two-time All-Pro Sauce Gardner.
The 49ers’ offseason program currently is in its fifth week, with organized team activities set to begin Monday. Mandatory minicamp is June 4-6.
Check back for more on this developing story.
