San Francisco 49ers: The 2011 Preseason Schedule Offers a Chance for Revenge

The 49ers released their preseason schedule on Tuesday, April 12th.

One look at the schedule and the fans will see the added incentives of watching preseason games in 2011.

Week 1: @New Orleans Saints

Week 2: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 3: vs. Houston Texans

Week 4: @San Diego Chargers

Preseason games are notoriously mundane in nature.

While it serves as an opportunity for coaches to evaluate talent, it is also a meaningless opportunity for star players to risk injury. The fans are generally bored.

The significant players probably don't generally care about the outcome of the game, but the players that are out there and playing for their jobs generally do.

This preseason schedule features three opponents from last season.

Of those three opponents, two were successful in overcoming the 49ers.

The loss to the Saints happened in heartbreaking fashion on Monday Night Football. The night they lost to the Chargers, on the other hand, the 49ers simply couldn't compete on any level.

This is Jim Harbaugh's first opportunity as head coach of the 49ers to show what it's going to take and mean to be a San Francisco 49er going forward.

If you think it doesn't matter to him, think again.

However, there may not even be a quarterback named until well into the preseason, which is another reason why 49ers fans might just be more intrigued by this preseason than by those in the past.

As usual, the 49ers play the Raiders, in which the preseason series is tied for the two teams. The Texans game has about as much significance as the preseason record of the 49ers did last season.

While many factors in preseason matter more than the overall record or outcome of any individual game, there are plenty of subplots to look into this year.