The San Francisco 49ers are set to open their 2026 NFL season in Australia against the Los Angeles Rams, but not everyone has a good feeling about this piece of scheduling. Former
NFL scout John Middlekauff has a serious warning for the franchise, and he isn’t holding back on his thoughts on the matter.
John Middlekauff Talks about the Enormous Weight for the 49ers in Australia
“When you’re going to get on a plane and travel 15, 16 hours, it’s a fu**ing huge deal,” Middlekauff said. He added that the winner of that game won’t just feel elated but also relieved, given everything that comes with travel and the pressure that goes with it.
The stakes get even more interesting when you look at what follows. After the Australia game, the 49ers face the Dolphins and then the Cardinals, two teams Middlekauff believes could both go in the top five of a mock draft.
All things considered, San Francisco could realistically start 3-0 or fall into a hole quickly, depending on how that first game goes.
The Rams, meanwhile, are facing their own scheduling challenge. Los Angeles plays on Monday Night Football the following week, which compresses their turnaround heading into Week 3.
Head coach Sean McVay has publicly acknowledged the Monday night slot, though Middlekauff pointed out that the short week that follows is a real concern for the Rams.
The 49ers, led by head coach Kyle Shanahan, actually got a favorable draw by comparison. Shanahan’s offense posted an impressive 85.2 score in PFSN’s offense impact metric for the 2025 season, showing the unit has the firepower to compete.
But talent alone won’t erase the toll of a 15-hour flight across time zones. “I don’t like overhyping Week 1,” Middlekauff said, but he stressed that this particular game demands an exception. Lose to the Rams in Australia, and suddenly a winnable schedule starts looking very different.
Middlekauf believes the Dolphins, even with all their flaws (and currently in a clear rebuild), are far from a lock to succumb to San Francisco, even with a healthy, confident 49ers squad.
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He summed it up bluntly, saying that the Australia Rams game is “fu**ing massive.” If San Francisco wins, they march into a soft stretch with momentum and confidence.
But if they lose, the combination of brutal travel, a shorter recovery window, and back-to-back games against two potentially struggling franchises could quietly unravel everything before October arrives.
The 49ers enter the season with real Super Bowl ambitions under Shanahan. But as Middlekauff’s warning makes plain, the road to those ambitions runs straight through a football field thousands of miles from home.
A loss Down Under could send the whole season sideways before it ever really gets started.
