The San Francisco 49ers will need to hit the ground running coming out of their Bye week.
A Week 8 win over the Dallas Cowboys put the 49ers in a spot to be competitive in the NFC West and playoff races the rest of the way, but they’ll need to get off on the right foot out of the gate when the visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Recently the first game out of the Bye week has been a bright spot on the 49ers’ schedule.
Under head coach Kyle Shanahan they’re 4-3 after the week off, but they’re 4-1 in their last five. The 2017 and 2018 seasons were outliers where they lost 24-13 at home to the Seattle Seahawks and 27-9 on the road vs. the Buccaneers.
Since then they’ve been pretty good out of the Bye.
In 2019 they blew out the Cleveland Browns 31-3 at Levi’s Stadium. The following year was a disaster, but they still squeaked out a 23-20 road win over the Los Angeles Rams after the Bye.
Quarterback injuries and inclement weather helped catalyze an ugly 30-18 loss at home against the Indianapolis Colts after the 2021 Bye week.
In 2022 they snuck past the Los Angeles Chargers 22-16 early in Christian McCaffrey’s tenure. Then last year they blew out the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-3 in Northeast Florida.
While the 49ers haven’t necessarily been dominant immediately after the Bye week, a 4-1 record in their last five provides optimism they’ll be able to find a win over a shorthanded Buccaneers club coming off a tough, overtime Monday Night Football game on the road vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.
Given Shanahan’s overall record after Bye weeks, getting started with a win would put the 49ers on a very good track to stay prominently in the NFC playoff picture.
