49ers headed for Harbaugh-Luck showdown

The 49ers don’t know who their next opponent will be. It could be Seattle, or Washington, or Green Bay.

But while they wait for their next immediate opponent, the 49ers announced who they will play next season, and there are a few interesting matchups.

Outside of their division opponents, four 2012 playoff teams will travel to San Francisco next season: Atlanta, Houston, Green Bay and Indianapolis. The Colts game will be much-hyped, with Andrew Luck returning to the Bay Area to face his college coach Jim Harbaugh.

Luck, the top overall pick in this year’s draft, turned the 2-14 Colts into a playoff team this year and is a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year.

While their home schedule seems daunting, their road schedule looks fairly easy. The 49ers only travel to face one non-division playoff team: Washington, led by another Rookie of the Year candidate, Robert Griffin III.

The 49ers will also travel to New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Tennessee. Their other road game will be a quite a trek: They will play Jacksonville in London, the latest in the NFL’s attempt to expand their game globally. This will be the 49ers second trip to London. In 2010, they defeated the Denver Broncos 24-16 in Wembley Stadium.

As for the (post)season at hand, the 49ers are widely considered the favorite to come out of the NFC. Bovada Online Sportsbook has listed the 49ers as a 12-to-5 favorite to win the NFC Championship, ahead of top-seed Atlanta (5-to-2) and Green Bay (10-to-3).

As for their odds to win the whole thing, Bovada lists the 49ers as 6-to-1 favorites to bring the Lombardi Trophy back to San Francisco, just behind Denver and New England.