How the 49ers are readjusting after weeklong Australia trip

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- After a convincing 27-7 win over a division rival, the San Francisco 49ers boarded their buses and headed to the Melbourne airport with visions of a victory party dancing in their heads.

The Niners knew they couldn't take off before theLos Angeles Rams' departed, but they still had every intention of making the most of the 16-hour flight home. But by the time they boarded the plane, all of those plans stayed on the ground, as adrenaline gave way to the fatigue from their weeklong trip down under.

"We're all like, dude, we're going to fall asleep and then we're going to wake up and we're going to celebrate," fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. "We're going to have our team party that we didn't get to have. And then I woke up like an hour before we got there, and everyone was still sleeping. I don't think anybody celebrated."

While they had every reason to celebrate in the moment, the fact that they didn't should only help them overcome the final obstacle of the Australia trip: reacclimating to Pacific time and a normal workweek.

Asked this week whether it was more difficult to adjust to Australian time or readjusting to Pacific time, there were players on both sides of the fence. But they all agreed there was at least a little bit of an adjustment period.

"Speaking for myself, I felt like crap all weekend," coach Kyle Shanahan said. "We had two days off and I did not feel right. Took a couple of days. I think I was good by Monday. Talking to some of the guys, some guys felt fine right away. Some went through the same stuff, but I think we're definitely all good by now."

Much like they did for the flight to Melbourne, the Niners had recovery plans for their players that began as soon as they stepped back on the Qantas A380 plane. Dustin Perry, the team's vice president of player health and performance, and his staff provided players with instructions on how much water to drink on the plane, how long to stay up before falling asleep and when to wake up.

Right tackle Colton McKivitz said the objective was to stay up for a couple of hours (an easy enough task with so much adrenaline still pumping from the game), go to sleep in their lie-flat seats, and then wake up for the final few hours of the flight.

McKivitz estimated he slept for about seven hours. Running back Christian McCaffrey said he was out for about 13 hours, which was about the same as rookie defensive tackle Gracen Halton. Defensive end Nick Bosa was in the same range.

"I actually felt it worse on the way back," Bosa said. "Going out, you just kind of power through a few hours and then go to bed early and then just stay on a little earlier wake-up is what I did. And then when I came back, it's been kind of hard to get to bed, but [Tuesday] night I got to bed nice and early."

The 49ers landed atSan Francisco International Airport on Friday night around 5 p.m., took a bus to Santa Clara, and then went their separate ways for the rest of the weekend. Perry's training staff offered further instructions on when to sleep and not, when to take in sunlight, and even the best times to consume caffeine. Shanahan gave the team Saturday and Sunday off, with the only schedule modification coming Monday.

Coming off a normal Thursday game, the Niners routinely have a more normal "bonus" practice on Monday, but Shanahan tweaked it into something easier this week. Shanahan said the team met for its normal postgame film session before Perry and his staff put the players through a workout.

Tuesday was a normal day off, and then the regular workweek began with practices at their normal early afternoon times Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. While the travel required some adjusting, Shanahan's message to the team was to ignore it as much as possible and maintain the same mindset that led to a win in Australia.

"I thought one of the reasons we played so well is just because of the focus that we had," Shanahan said. "We can talk about the travel and all that, but that's whatever. Our whole team was locked into that game. I could tell from the first practice all the way to the night before the game, to pregame, to the end of the game. Nothing ever changed with them. That's the goal to do that same thing this week."

Like Shanahan, it took varying amounts of days for his players to feel normal. McCaffrey said it took a couple of days before he felt like himself. It was the same for McKivitz and Halton. Linebacker Fred Warner, ever the overachiever, said it was "about a day" before he was "ready to rock."

When the 49ers first agreed to play in Melbourne in Week 1, they asked the league to play on "Monday Night Football" in Week 2, according to Shanahan. The NFL denied that request but awarded them three consecutive home games, starting Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.

On paper, it's a favorable matchup against a team with a new QB, head coach and general manager. But it's understood that an upset loss to the Dolphins -- the Niners are 13.5-point favorites on DraftKings -- would wipe away the momentum built in Week 1.

"We loved the outcome of last week, but there's things to clean up all across the board," Warner said. "We're trying to see how we can get a little bit better going into this week to give ourselves a chance to win one more."br/]