Seahawks at competitive disadvantage compared to one NFC West rival's schedule

Seattle is way out in the Pacific Northwest, and many national media outlets seem to forget about the Seahawks unless the team is exceptional. In the early 2010s, the team was a perennial Super Bowl contender and could not be ignored. Head coach Pete Carroll also had the personality to draw media interest.

But now, Seattle is led by the more stoic Mike Macdonald. Not that there is anything wrong with the coach. He proved to be a winner in his first season with the Seahawks, and that was his first year as a head coach anywhere. The Seahawks' future is bright with the head coach.

That said, there is probably little doubt that the NFL and the media would like to have a team be a big winner that is closer to more populated areas or with a huge fan base. This is not to say the league rigs its schedule, but Seattle is never given any break, even though it often travels more miles than any other team to play games.

The Seahawks watch as the 49ers get a soft 2025 schedule

This is partly because of where the Seahawks are headquartered. But in any given year, Seattle should theoretically be a tired team. Seattle does not lead the NFL in miles traveled this coming season because of the teams involved in one-off international games.

Schedule makers also decided to give one of the Seahawks' NFC West rivals a fantastic schedule. The San Francisco 49ers will play Seattle in the first and last games of the season, but there are some bonuses for San Fran in between those.

According to the official NFL site, the 49ers have the easiest schedule in the league. Writer Eric Edholm even manages to slight the Seahawks in his write-up by adding, "(The 49ers) open with two on the road, but you could draw a lot worse than at Seattle and New Orleans."

Hey, Eric...maybe you forgot that Seattle won 10 games last season and defeated San Francisco once last year. Plus, the Seahawks should be better in 2025 with a more efficient offense and the addition of DeMarcus Lawrence on defense.

Besides the slight, though, the 49ers are a stretch between Weeks 9 and 17 where they could reel off a bunch of wins. Those games include traveling to the New York Giants, at home versus the Los Angeles Rams, going to the Arizona Cardinals, at home versus the Carolina Panthers, away versus the Cleveland Browns, a Week 14 bye week, at home versus the Tennessee Titans, on the road against the Indianapolis Colts, and at home versus the Chicago Bears.

The Giants, Panthers, Browns, Titans, and Colts are not expected to be very good, and the Bears might not be either. San Francisco could easily go 7-1 in that run. In other words, the NFL might badly want the 49ers to return to the playoffs.