49ers schedule: Reportedly open at Bucs before host Steelers

SANTA CLARA — First stop on Jimmy Garoppolo’s comeback tour apparently will be Tampa.

The 49ers schedule will open at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the Pittsburgh Steelers make their first trip to Levi’s Stadium for the 49ers home opener, NBC Sports Bay Area reported Wednesday morning.

The schedule with all dates and times officially will be unveiled at 5 p.m.

Garoppolo, who’s never started or played at Tampa, is on track to return from knee reconstruction stemming from last September’s anterior cruciate ligament tear at Kansas City. He is 8-2 all-time as a starting quarterback, including a win in his only season-opening start — in 2016 in place of a suspended Tom Brady with the New England Patriots.

Garoppolo won the 49ers home opener last year against the Detroit Lions before getting hurt the following Sunday in a loss to the Chiefs.

Coach Kyle Shanahan’s teams have opened 0-9 and 1-7 the past two seasons before finishing 6-10 and 4-12. The 49ers lost 27-9 at Tampa last Nov. 9 and fell to 2-9, hours after releasing linebacker Reuben Foster prior to the game because of an arrest for alleged domestic violence at the team hotel.

The 49ers last opened a season at Tampa in 1997, losing that opener 16-3 while Steve Young and Jerry Rice got injured. The 49ers went on to a 13-3 regular season and fell in the NFC Championship Game to the Green Bay Packers.