NFL’s schedule features twists

In the NFL, it’s not always how you start, but how you finish.

The San Diego Chargers can attest to that, having overcome painfully slow starts the last two seasons only to make the playoffs with a flurry down the stretch.

So it’s only natural that, when the NFL announced its 2009 schedule Tuesday, the eyes of Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith were immediately drawn to the final month of the regular season.

“I want to know the back four,” Smith said in a telephone interview. “Who are we playing down the stretch, and where are those games? If we’re playing well, who do we have to hold off? And if we’re dragging a little bit, what do we have to do to get back in the hunt?”

San Diego’s final four games are at Dallas, Cincinnati at home, at Tennessee on Christmas, and Washington at home. The Chargers will be done with their AFC West games by Nov. 29, their earliest division finish since 2000.

Smith is quick to point out he loses no sleep over the schedule because, really, who knows now how good any team will actually be.

For instance, at this point last year, games against Miami, Atlanta and Baltimore looked like layups, yet those three teams made it to the playoffs.

“I stare at it more for the curiosity factor,” Smith said. “I don’t look at it and dissect it. It’s there. Play it.”

Among the other highlights of the 2009 schedule:

* The Green Bay Packers will play at Heinz Field for the first time. They haven’t been to Pittsburgh since 1998, and haven’t won there since 1970.

* New England quarterback Tom Brady, whose knee was repaired on the West Coast, won’t spend much time in that region during the season. The Patriots -- who last season played at San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland and Seattle -- won’t play a regular-season game west of Denver.

* Baltimore complained to the league that four of the Ravens’ last five matchups at Pittsburgh -- including one in the playoffs -- were night games. So this season, Ravens at Steelers is a day game, and the Steelers will play their first night game in Baltimore since 2003.

* Some things don’t change for the Arizona Cardinals -- they’ll open against San Francisco for the fourth consecutive season. But some things do -- Kurt Warner & Co. will make their first two appearances on Sunday Night Football.

* Seattle, coming off a 4-12 season, will not make a prime-time appearance. That hasn’t happened since 1983.

* Things couldn’t be much more welcoming for new Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler. Based on last season’s records, the Bears have the league’s easiest schedule; their opponents were 105-149-2 (.414) in 2008.

* The Miami Dolphins have the most difficult schedule, but at least they play three of their first five games at home, where the heat and humidity have been especially challenging for visitors.

* The Detroit Lions, who haven’t won since beating Kansas City on Dec. 23, 2007, open on the road against New Orleans.

* Dallas will christen its $1.1-billion, 80,000-seat stadium with a classic matchup: a Sunday night game against the New York Giants on Sept. 20. The Cowboys lead all teams with six nationally televised games.

Who needs Terrell Owens to get attention?

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sam.farmer@latimes.com