The door is still open for two key pillars of the San Francisco 49ers to suit up in the 2026 opener.
As the organization prepares to fly Down Under to Australia on Wednesday, tight end George Kittle and pass rusher Nick Bosa will make the trip with the team, per ESPN. Both are attempting to be ready for the international Week 1 contest against the Los Angeles Rams after suffering season-ending injuries in 2025.
Kittle suffered a torn right Achilles during the wild card round against the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite suffering the injury on Jan. 11, the 32-year-old has made remarkable strides in his rehab and was activated off the physically unable to perform list on Aug. 23. After practicing over the previous two days, Kittle is taking another step toward being available for Week 1.
"It comes down to some objective measures, and he's absolutely crushed them all," general manager John Lynch told KNBR when asked about Kittle's progress. "Now, the thing with George that I think everyone knows, because everyone's seen it out here at training camp, he's done a ton of volume to the side, and he's looked incredible doing it."
As for Bosa, the fact that he's also making the trip is encouraging, and the front office believes he'll be available. He's been sidelined for the bulk of training camp as he continues to recover from a torn ACL, his second in his right knee, that he suffered last September. The latest report notes that Bosa has been ramping up his workload, so there is optimism the pass rusher could be available.
"We put together a really good plan that we believe will have him ready for Australia," Lynch told reporters Tuesday.
The 49ers and Rams will square off in Australia on Thursday, Sept. 10, at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Why are the 49ers arriving in Australia early?
The 49ers and Rams are taking wildly different approaches to their travel plans for the Australia game.
San Francisco is departing the Bay Area on Wednesday and, factoring in the 17-hour time difference, will arrive in Melbourne on Friday. That gives the 49ers roughly a week to acclimate to the time change before they play their season opener. Meanwhile, the Rams plan to fly to Australia the day before the game.
Under the recommendation of scientists, the Niners are opting to acclimate to the local time zone rather than follow the Rams' approach of keeping themselves on a U.S. internal clock.
"I would love to just show up the day before and just play, but I'm not the best when it comes to the science and everything on that stuff," head coach Kyle Shanahan said last month when asked about the approach. "So, you ask people who've done it a number of times, you ask people who study it, you take all their opinions in.
"We've been strongly recommended to. When you've got a 19-hour flight, and it's a 16-hour-something difference -- I forgot because I haven't asked since we were making these decisions -- but it's a big adjustment on the body. So, the recommendation for everybody has been to tell us when to go, and it's made a lot of sense. And I know how our players feel also. I was a little bit on the fence. Science wasn't ... and our players weren't at all. So that helped me get off the fence."
While the game will kick off Sept. 10 at 8:35 p.m. ET in the United States, it will be Friday, Sept. 11, at 11:35 a.m. local time in Melbourne.
