Bears lose seventh straight in blowout loss to 49ers |
SANTA CLARA - Leave it to the Chicago Bears (4-9) to make struggling teams look like playoff teams. After firing Head Coach Matt Eberflus after their Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions, Interim Head Coach Thomas Brown was set to make his head coaching debut at Levi Stadium against a reeling San Francisco 49ers (6-7) club.
The defending NFC champs have endured a rash of injuries this season, which has left them in the basement of the NFC West and their playoff hopes becoming slimmer by the minute. All it took for the 49ers to, at the very least, look like a playoff team once again was this Chicago Bears defense, as Brock Purdy and company started fast and never looked back in what was a 38-13 beatdown. Purdy has had some rough outings the past month, but on this day, he was about as good as possible, completing 20-25 passes for 325 yards and two scores. Both of those scores went to Jauan Jennings, who continues to emerge as a big-time threat this season. The same can be said about George Kittle, who has a matchup nightmare for the Bears. He hauled in six receptions for 150 yards, including more than 100 yards in the first half. As was the case in several Bears games this season, it took a while for the Chicago offense to get rolling as they were held scoreless in the first half. In fact, the Bears offense was nonexistent over the game's first 30 minutes as they were held to just four yards of total offense in the first half compared to 253 yards for the 49ers. This was one of those games where the 49ers started fast and never looked back, as they scored on the game's opening possession to take a 7-0 lead. A pair of big passes from Purdy to Isaac Guerendo and Kittle set things up, with Jennings hauling in the first of his two scores from seven yards out. Two possessions later, and it was the 49ers offense at it again as they drove 64 yards on just four plays to take a 14-0 lead. Once again, the Guerendo and Kittle combination got things going as Purdy hooked up with both of them for massive first downs before Guerendo finished things off from one yard out. Guerendo finished the day with 78 yards on just 15 carries, and he will be the 49ers' feature back from here on out. Following another three-and-out by the Bears offense, the 49ers' offense continued to go to work, needing 12 plays to go 71 yards and taking more than seven minutes to finish the job. Finding Kittle not once but twice for more than 40 yards was a massive part of the drive, as the Bears' defense was searching for answers. That is when the running game took over to grind out the tough yards only to have Jennings come down with his second TD of the half to push the 49ers lead to 21-0. Jake Moody would add a late field goal toward the end of the first half, as it was all 49ers after one 24-0. For whatever reason, the Bears have been a second-half team in many of their games, and you started to see that on their opening possession of the second half. Not only did they pick up more yards than in the entire first half with 70, but with 16 plays and nearly 10 minutes of clock chewed up, Chicago finally had a great drive going. D'Andre Swift may have only had 38 yards of rushing, but a good chunk of that came on this drive, which helped get the passing game going. Even with Williams struggling and finishing with only 134 yards, he didn't throw an interception for the seventh straight game and found the endzone twice. Both TD grabs came from fellow rookie Rome Odunze, who finished the day with four receptions for 42 yards. The first of those receptions came on the Bears opening drive of the second half, as his four-yard reception put the Bears on the board. That came after DJ Moore returned with a few nice receptions to keep the drive alive as he led the Bears with 49 yards on six receptions. Sometimes, all an offense needs to get rolling is a touchdown, and after the Bears scored that TD, their offense was back on the field, with Williams finding Odunze for a 17-yard gain. Williams continued to make plays with his arm, as Keenan Allen pulled down a 14-yard reception to move the ball near midfield, only to have a Williams fumble kill the momentum and give the ball back to San Francisco. Looking for the knockout blow, it was the Purdy and Jennings connections yet again as they hooked up for 39 yards to set the offense up. Kittle followed that up with another first down catch to end the third, with Guerendo going in from four yards out to extend the lead to 31-6. Despite the fumble, the Bears offense continued to show signs of life as they answered that 49ers TD with one of their own. Whether it be Williams' legs to keep plays alive or his ability to find his WRs, Chicago was moving the ball and had it inside the 49ers Red Zone. Odunze took care of the rest by hauling in a TD in front of two defenders as the Bears continued to battle back 31-13. Those were the final points of the night for Chicago as the 49ers put together one last TD drive capped off by a Patrick Taylor to close out the scoring as the Bears' losing streak reached seven games. "We got our butts kicked." "We gotta find a way to get some points in the first half." “That’s been our achilles heel, giving up big plays in the run game.”
Interim HC Thomas Brown after the Bears' 25-point loss. pic.twitter.com/6ebNkcosM0
The Bears have been held scoreless in the first half 4 times this year. pic.twitter.com/DTi1Mkm6oI
The Bears allowed 131 yards rushing today. pic.twitter.com/nShrOqrNMq
