Bears fall in shootout to 49ers

Kyle Terada - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 2 hours ago

SANTA CLARA -Prior to the Chicago Bears' (11-5) massive Sunday night clash with the San Francisco 49ers (12-4) at Levi's Stadium, the Bears were given a late christmas gift that came from the Baltimore Ravens. With their win against Green Bay on Saturday night, Chicago entered Sunday as the NFC North Champions, a massive accomplishment for this team.

That was only the first goal for this team, as there is still plenty left to do before this season comes to an end, as the Bears were up against their toughest test yet on Sunday. In a game many felt the Bears would get blown out by two scores, this wound up being one of the year's best, as defense was optional for both teams.

Trailing by four with just over two minutes to go and the ball in their hands, Caleb Williams and the offense had the 49ers right where they wanted them with a chance to win this game. Chicago did what they had to do, moving the ball all the way down to the four, but it was the all-out blitz in the final seconds that was the difference as Williams saw his pass to Jahdae Walker fall just short in the 49ers' 42-38 win.

When you talk about fast starts, it was the Bears' defense making a play as T.J. Edwards intercepted Brock Purdy on the first play of the game, as Edwards raced to the endzone for a pick six to give the Bears an early 7-0 lead. Apart from that, Chicago had no answers for the 49ers' offense as the 49ers put up more than 300 yards of first-half offense and 28 points in what became more of an offensive shootout than anything.

A big reason for that was the big-play ability from both offenses, as Purdy answered his interception with a long pass just out of Nahshon Wright's reach that helped set the ball up inside the Bears' three-yard line. They managed to cash in on plays later with Purdy finding Jacob Tonges for the two-yard strike as this was a 7-7 game, less than five minutes in.

It only got worse from there for Chicago, as their offense struggled to get much going on its first few possessions, putting all the pressure back on the Bears' defense. With Christian McCaffrey carving up the Bears both through the air and on the ground, he helped set up the next two scores for San Francisco as Purdy rushed one in to put the 49ers on top before McCaffrey added a second rushing touchdown on the 49ers' next possession.

Between those scores came a Bears offense built on big plays with Caleb Williams finding Luther Burden and Cole Kmet for a pair of first downs, the first two of the game for Chicago. The Burden and Williams combo was just getting started as Williams went up top later in the drive for Burden as he got behind the defense for the 35-yard score to make this a 14-14 game.

Trailing 21-14 after that McCaffrey touchdown, the Bears offense continued to live off big plays of their own with Kyle Monangai picking up a pair of first downs to move the ball into 49ers territory. That set the stage for Williams once again as he got the 49ers to jump offside for the free play, only to find Coleston Loveland deep for the 36-yard strike to make this a 21-21 game.

Those are the types of big plays that have made the Bears offense so successful this season, but with a defense struggling to make stops, Chicago was going to need a whole lot more of those big plays to win this game, as Purdy added his second rushing touchdown late in the first half to give the 49ers a 28-21 lead at the break.

Knowing the Bears would need to continue relying on their offense, they got the ball first in the second half and once again came out firing. Following a pair of first downs, including one by Monangai, it was Williams doing what he does best, escaping trouble to find Jahdae Walker for a huge first down. That was the first of two rollout plays from Williams, with his second one finding Burden to make things first and goal, which led to D'Andre Swift finishing things off to tie things up 28-28.

While most of the 49ers' first half was built on big plays, they started to mix in a bit of shorter gains to go with those big plays on their opening possession, with Kendrick Bourne taking the reverse for a massive first down out of the gates. That was only the beginning as McCaffrey continued to churn out the yards needed to keep the drive alive, resulting in Purdy's fourth touchdown as he found his fullback Kyle Juszczak for the two-yard strike to put the 49ers back on top 35-28.

That back-and-forth affair continued on the Bears' next possession as Swift continued to build on his strong second half with another first down, which was followed by another huge hookup to Burden. With the ball now in 49ers territory, Chicago was on the move, only to have a costly holding call on third and short take what would have been a first down away and put the Bears in a much more challenging situation.

That didn't bother Williams as he used his legs to pick up six yards before finding Loveland on a huge fourth-down play to keep the drive going. It was that play that proved costly for the 49ers as Swift opened the fourth quarter with a massive touchdown run, and once again, we were knotted back up 35-35.

Even with Ricky Pearsall coming down with a huge third-down completion to move the ball near midfield, the Bears' defense stepped up when it mattered to come away with a rare stop, leading to Thomas Morstead's second punt after not punting the entire month of December. Needing to go 90 yards, the Bears' offense got off to a great start with Williams finding Burden for another big play to push him over the 100-yard mark in the game.

That was only the start of what was to come as Williams' dominant second half continued with a huge completion to Loveland to move the ball inside the 49ers redzone. Chicago would eventually get inside the 10, but it was the 49ers defense picking the perfect time to come up with a stop as Chicago settled for the 29 yard field goal from Cairo Santos to make this a 38-35 game.

Given how the game unfolded most of the night, you had a feeling that that field goal may come back to haunt the Bears in the end, but once again, it was their defense making things tough for the 49ers' offense. That was until a clutch third down reception from Tonges kept the drive alive, only to have McCaffrey make another play in the passing game to move the ball into Chicago territory.

Two plays later, and it was time for Purdy to dissect the Bears' defense once again as he found Jauan Jennings wide open over the middle, and Jennings did the rest as his 39-yard catch and run resulted in the go-ahead score to put the 49ers back on top 42-38.

Already with six wins when trailing with less than two minutes to go, Chicago had the 49ers right where they wanted them as they got the ball back with just over two minutes to go. These are the moments that Williams has thrived in this season, and if there was a way he could do it again, the Bears would lock up the NO. 2 seed in the NFC.

What started with Swift doing his thing on the ground continued to be the Burden and Loveland show as two clutch catches by the rookies had the Bears down to the San Francisco 13 with 25 seconds to go. Following an incompletion, Williams went back to Loveland for a short gain, which turned into a hook and later to Swift, who brought the ball inside the five with five seconds to go.

That was as close as Chicago would get as Robert Salah dialed up the pressure on the next play, resulting in an incomplete pass to give the 49ers an improbable 42-38 win. The loss forces Chicago to play their starters against Detroit next week to avoid the No. 3 seed, but given the Packers will have the No. 7 seed, you have to wonder if the Bears will go into next week playing the matchup game.