5 takeaways from Bears’ 42-38 loss to the San Francisco 49ers
The Bears had another chance to pull off some late-game magic in front of a national audience on Sunday night. But the Bears’ magic ran out this time.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense had a chance to win the game with four seconds left in the game needing two yards. But Williams couldn’t complete a pass as time expired and the Bears lost 42-38.
It was a difficult loss for the Bears. Not only did Chicago have a chance to win an important game in terms of NFC playoff standings. But the Bears wasted a career day from Williams where the offense kept up in an offensive showdown against one of the NFL’s best.
Now the Bears will have one more regular season game before the playoffs start to figure to make final adjustments. Here are the five big takeaways from tough loss out on the road.
No answers defensively
Chicago was forced into an offensive shootout because the Bears’ defense had no answers for the 49ers offense.
San Francisco moved the ball at will Sunday night. Outside of an opening mistake (more on that later), Chicago’s defense couldn’t pick up many stops against a 49ers offense that’s turned it on over the past six games.
Quarterback Brock Purdy faced little pressure and made the most of it. He threw for 303 yards and completed 72.7% of his passes while he added 28 yards on the ground on top of two touchdowns. Even though star tight end George Kittle didn’t play, other players like wide receivers Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings and tight end Jake Tonges all finished with more than 40 receiving yards.
The Bears did force the 49ers to punt for the first time this month. But San Francisco scored touchdowns on six of its 10 possessions and put up 496 total yards of offense.
“We just didn’t do a good enough job on defense executing,” Bears safety Kevin Byard said after the game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. “Not enough good communication, too many mistakes.”
Can’t stop Christian McCaffrey
The Bears, like many teams in the NFL, had no response for 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey on Sunday.
McCaffrey made it look easy at times as he broke plenty of tackles at the line of scrimmage or ran around pressure to extend carries. Once he got to open space, the Bears’ linebackers and secondary struggled to stop him as he made them look as if they were on ice skates at times.
He rushed for a season-high 140 yards and a touchdown while also adding four catches for 41 yards. McCaffrey’s longest run of the game came in the first quarter when he broke through for a 41-yard rush, which was a season-best.
Chicago knew McCaffrey would cause troubles. But the Bears also felt they could’ve slowed him down more.
“Obviously, a ton of respect for him as a player and really their scheme and how well they operate together,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “Yeah, I just think it was us as a group, we got to be better.”
Rookies step up
The Bears’ rookie wide receivers embodied the team’s next-man-up mentality Sunday.
The offense was without its full group of wideouts because of various injures. Top wide receiver Rome Odunze missed his fourth game of the injury, Olamide Zaccheaus was inactive because of an illness while DJ Moore played while dealing with an illness.
Chicago’s rookies stepped up in the biggest moments. Williams found each of tight end Colston Loveland and wide receivers Luther Burden III and Jahdae Walker for critical completions to move the ball down the field.
Burden led the way with a career-high 138 receiving yards off eight catches while Loveland added 94 receiving yards off six receptions. Walker, an undrafted rookie, added 30 receiving yards on two catches. The Bears rookies were grateful to have Williams’ trust in key situations.
“It means a lot, for sure,” Loveland said. “I think there’s some things out there Luther and I could have made some plays, we could have made as a whole really. But yeah, it means a lot.”
What a start
Chicago started Sunday night’s game with a bang in front of a national audience.
Edwards intercepted Purdy’s first pass attempt of the game after cornerback Jaylon Johnson tipped the pass. Edwards returned it 34 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears an early 7-0 lead. It was Edwards’ first career interception returned for a touchdown.
The play was exactly what the Bears needed to do if they wanted to stop Purdy and the 49ers offense. Chicago kept its league-lead in takeaways, now with 32 through 16 games.
The Bears didn’t make enough of those plays to slow down the 49ers. But Edwards was happy to give his team a spark at the beginning.
“Good play and I thought Jaylon made an awesome play on the ball obviously to knock it free,” Edwards said. “I was able just to be there on the ball and the defense did a great job setting up blocks for me.”
Playoff implications
Sunday night’s game had major playoff implications for the NFC playoff race.
Chicago entered the night as the NFC’s No. 2 seed while San Francisco was the No. 5 seed. Both teams remained in the same spots after the game, with the Bears holding a tiebreaker over the Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) because of the Bears’ win over the Eagles earlier this season.
Chicago had already secured its spot in the playoffs with two games to go. The Bears clinched their first playoff berth since 2020 last week and then won their first NFC North championship since 2018 on Saturday after the Green Bay Packers lost to the Baltimore Ravens.
The Bears will play the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field in Week 18 at 3:25 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 4, for seeding. They will either be the No. 2 seed with a win or an Eagles loss next week or the No. 3 seed with a loss and an Eagles win. Sunday’s loss, though, took the Bears out of contention for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
“We’ll go get ready for this game just how we get ready for any game,” Williams said. “We want to bring it to them and it’s gonna be a good game.”