The 49ers Should Keep Playing in San Francisco



There were so many NFL news stories to digest on the Saturday ahead of Week 12. Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn were fired. The number of minor illnesses in Baltimore’s locker room reached the 20s. All four Bronco quarterbacks were ruled out of their game against the Saints for no good reason.

And then, there was the announcement that the 49ers wouldn’t be able to play in San Francisco during the coming weeks, thanks to a Santa Clara lockdown mandate.

At the time, no one knew what the 49ers would do. Playing all of their games in the opposing stadium would be too much of a disadvantage for them. Finding neutral sites may have been too difficult. Forfeiting was obviously not an option either, though many blue checks on Twitter would have loved it.

As it turns out the NFL already had a plan in place for this. The league schedule-makers made sure the 49ers and Cardinals didn’t have home games on the same date, so that the 49ers could play in Arizona in a pinch. I’m always quick to criticize Roger Goodell, but I’ll give him credit for creating this sort of plan. Having the foresight to know that Santa Clara county would overreact to the so-called pandemic was incredible. The 49ers should send Goodell a nice bottle of wine for taking care of them ahead of time.

However, what the 49ers really should do is play in San Francisco.

“Wait, how is that possible? Aren’t they banned from playing there?”

I imagine you’re asking this question. If not, my apologies. But just in case you were, I’m aware of the Santa Clara mandate, obviously. I just wrote about it, after all. But that shouldn’t matter at all because the 49ers should ignore it.




Throughout the country, we have small businesses defying tyrannical government regulations. In New Jersey, two men kept their gym open despite the overbearing regulations from governor Phil Murphy, who killed thousands of old people by putting sick individuals into their nursing homes. In Staten Island, a peaceful protest was held for a bar/restaurant owner who kept his doors open, citing that bars a few blocks away, across county lines, were completely open. Governor Andrew Fredo ordered this shutdown, even though he killed way more elderly patients than Murphy. In Michigan, there was another restaurant owner who was very vocal about his business being shut down. He was defying the disgusting authority of governor Gretchen Umbridge, who likely tortures small animals.

If these small-business owners can stand up to tyranny, why can’t the 49ers? After all, the people in authority in their jurisdiction don’t even follow their own rules! Governor Gavin Newsom has locked down all indoor restaurants, but was seen eating fancy food in an expensive establishment called the French Laundry. Nancy Pelosi, otherwise known as the Wicked Witch of the West Coast, shut down all hair salons, but scheduled an appointment for herself, and then had the audacity to blame the owner when caught on video.

Why would the 49ers follow this edict when their leaders don’t? They should stand up to scumbags Newsom and Pelosi, becoming a leader in a protest against a completely unnecessary lockdown. And it’s not like San Francisco or the state of California would do anything. Seriously, how could they respond? They wouldn’t be dumb enough to kick out the 49ers because they’d lose so much revenue.

The 49ers have the power to make a huge difference. They fled to Arizona in cowardice for their Week 13 game, but if they had any conviction, they would fight the authority and play their Week 14 game in Levi’s Stadium. They would champion so many hard-working Americans by leading the charge against tyranny. They would truly become America’s team, and no one can buy that sort of publicity.








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