Thursday’s grand NFL schedule reveal saw six of the Niners’ 14 opponents include in their schedule release videos references to the substation, conspiracies and all things electricity after the pseudoscience theory ran rampant early in 2026.
If you somehow missed it: The 49ers dealt with a litany of catastrophic injuries this season, leading some to claim that low-frequency radiation from an electrical substation located next to the team’s facilities was contributing to increased injury risk. 49ers general manager John Lynch seemingly fanned the flames early in the offseason when he said the team would hire scientists to look into the claims. By late March, Lynch called the theory a “big nothing burger” at an NFL offseason meeting in Phoenix.
But the jokes were there for the taking across the NFL, and several teams were ruthless to the 49ers, including two division rivals. The Seahawks were the last team to play at Levi’s Stadium — when they won Super Bowl 60. In a video built around the idea of the “scents of football season,” they made the 49ers’ scent “Substation,” with a hand getting shocked when it tries to grab the bottle.
Meanwhile down south, the Rams titled a book “The Electromagnetic Field” by “Dr. Nothingburger” when they showed they would play a game in Santa Clara in Week 14. (The Rams also cracked a joke about Kyle Shanahan’s request to play them in Mexico City as a form of get-back for the season opener in Australia.)
But no team was meaner than the Chargers. The other LA team’s highly anticipated video was made entirely in the style of the video game “Halo,” and the reveal of the Week 15 showdown against the Niners featured two “Halo” players having to run through the substation with a mission of “survive one practice.” The video includes subtle shoutouts to sea lion Chonkers, the injuries to Nick Bosa and George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk ghosting the 49ers. (The players fail the mission.)
Two NFC East teams got in on the action. The Eagles had their players read out their schedule in sealed envelopes and react. When the 49ers were revealed as their Week 17 matchup nearly 10 minutes in, defensive tackle Jordan Davis quipped, “Back to Electric Avenue,” eliciting laughs and a “You crazy for that one” from running back Saquon Barkley. In a science fair-themed video, the Commanders showed the substation conspiracy theory for their Week 6 matchup at Levi’s Stadium, finishing with a reference to Lynch’s “nothingburger” quote.
The Broncos, meanwhile, had ex-quarterback Peyton Manning flipping through commercials when he stumbled on a conspiracy theory channel. While it was mostly focused on the Denver International Airport, a fake commercial asked if the Golden Gate Bridge was a portal to another dimension.
The full 49ers schedule can be found here.