How will the 49ers weekly schedule change amid another short week?

The San Francisco 49ers will play for the NFC West division title and the conference’s No. 1 seed on Saturday when they face the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in a long-awaited rematch.

The 49ers have been on a roll, winning six games in a row to clinch a playoff berth and keep themselves alive in the NFC West race.

However, they’ve been dealt a tough hand over the last two weeks. In Week 16, the 49ers beat the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football, but had one less day of rest when facing the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night in Week 17.

Now, for the second straight week, the 49ers are going to be one day of rest short, just like the Seahawks, in the important matchup. Looking at the schedule, it made sense to place the 49ers on Sunday Night Football, given the rest factor. But the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens got that slot, despite the latter playing on Saturday last week.

Nonetheless, the 49ers will be on short rest once again, which means some changes to the team’s practice schedule.

“Oh yeah, almost everything [will be different] as far as full speed and stuff,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said about the team’s practice schedule. “We change our schedules up just playing late, not having as much recovery. So, we let them sleep different so we take out some meeting time to gain that. We let them come in a little bit later, but we try to get them out at the same time, so we knock off some meetings and things like that. And obviously, the on-field stuff changes. We had the big adjustment last week with the Monday night game and Christmas. So, it’s the same schedule this week.”

Now, with the deterrents, the 49ers aren’t shying away from their main goal, which is to clinch the No. 1 seed with a win. What would that mean for San Francisco?

“Yeah, I mean it’s one, it’s nice to rest guys, help guys recover and stuff, which is always good,” Shanahan continued. “But, I think the simplest way to say it is, I mean everyone’s goal is to win a Super Bowl, and in order to do that, I would say it’s easier to win three games than four games.

“You’d always rather play at home, no doubt about it. I think in football, out of all sports, home-field advantage is the biggest advantage because I think crowd noise truly affects the game in terms of pass rush and things like that. But, the main thing is just it’s one less game. I’d love to be home. That’s our goal. If that doesn’t work out, we’re excited to go on the road too.”

The 49ers are on a short week again, which means light practices, so the injury report will have to be monitored heading into the weekend. Can they pull off another home win against a playoff team to anoint themselves as the No. 1 seed in the conference? We’ll see.