2023 San Francisco 49ers Schedule: Full Listing of Dates, Times and TV Info

After reaching the NFC Championship Game in each of the past two years, expectations are high for the San Francisco 49ers going into the 2023 season.

As has become customary in the Bay Area, all eyes are going to be on the quarterback position throughout the summer to see who will start in Week 1.

Brock Purdy went from being the final pick in the 2022 NFL draft to starting by Week 13 because of injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. He wound up finishing third in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting by going 5-0 with 1,098 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and a 68.6 completion percentage in his five starts.

San Francisco's hopes for a Super Bowl were dashed when Purdy suffered an elbow injury in the first quarter of the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The 23-year-old had surgery on March 10 and is expected to start a throwing program in June.

Depending on how Purdy's recovery goes, Lance could get another shot to open the season as QB1 in San Francisco. He will have competition from Sam Darnold, who signed a one-year deal in free agency.

While there are questions at the most important position on the field, the rest of San Francisco's roster still looks strong. Javon Hargrave left the Eagles to sign with the Niners in free agency after recording a career-high 11 sacks in 2022.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan will have a full season of Christian McCaffrey, who led the team with 1,210 yards from scrimmage in just 11 games, to deploy with a group of skill-position players that also includes Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk.

In an NFC that doesn't look great at this point, especially compared to the AFC, the door could be wide open for the 49ers to get back to the Super Bowl after coming up one game short in each of the previous two years.

Here's a look at the schedule the 49ers will navigate, as well as some pivotal matchups to keep an eye on.

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2023 San Francisco 49ers Schedule

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Analysis

The 49ers currently own the NFL's longest regular-season winning streak. They finished last season with 10 consecutive victories after a 3-4 start en route to winning the NFC West for the first time since 2019.

Three of their four losses were to the Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons, all teams that finished last or tied for last in their respective division. They also got blown out 44-23 by the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Playing a first-place schedule in 2023, the 49ers have 10 games against teams that made the playoffs last season. Two of them will be against a Seattle Seahawks club that is San Francisco's biggest threat to win the NFC West.

The 49ers' schedule includes games against the NFC East and AFC North. Both divisions had at least three teams finish .500 last season, with the NFC East sending three teams to the postseason.

San Francisco also has three matchups against the reigning division champs in the NFC South (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), NFC North (Minnesota Vikings) and AFC South (Jacksonville Jaguars).

Per Sharp Football Analysis, the 49ers have the 10th-hardest strength of schedule in the NFL.

The NFC West doesn't look as daunting now as it did in 2021 when three teams made the playoffs. The Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals are in different stages of rebuilding.

San Francisco went 6-0 against division opponents last season. Those four head-to-head games against the Rams and Cardinals provide a good opportunity to pocket some crucial wins.

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Pivotal Matchups

The Seahawks were a surprise success story in 2022 with Geno Smith taking over for Russell Wilson at quarterback. They got significant contributions from their draft class, setting them up to be even better this season.

Seattle drafted cornerback Devon Witherspoon and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round this year. Both players should see a lot of playing time right away.

Last year marked the first time the 49ers swept the regular-season series against Seattle since 2011. They also defeated them 41-23 in the NFC Wild Card Round.

During the height of the Jim Harbaugh era in San Francisco, there wasn't a better or more intense rivalry in the NFL than 49ers-Seahawks. The current versions of both teams probably won't dislike each other as much as those 2012 and 2013 teams did, but they should be two of the better games on the schedule this season.

Following their loss to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, a number of 49ers players spoke publicly about how unimpressed they were with Philly.

There was almost certainly a high level of frustration that played a role in how much talking the Niners were doing. As George Kittle said after the loss, it was "pretty s--tty" to lose a game of that magnitude because they didn't have a healthy quarterback capable of throwing a football for most of the second half.

After all of their talking in January, the 49ers get to go back to Lincoln Financial Field for a showdown with the reigning NFC champions in Week 13.

Sticking with the NFC East, the recent success of the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys has reignited one of the NFL's best historic rivalries. San Francisco has eliminated Dallas from the postseason in each of the past two years, including a 19-12 win in the NFC Divisional Round in January.

The Cowboys will visit Levi's Stadium in Week 5 looking to get their first win over the 49ers since 2020.