Bear Digest

Bears' comeback well runs dry at 2-yard line against San Francisco

Another Caleb Williams fourth-quarter rally came up 72 inches shy with an incompletion in the end zone as time expired in an epic 42-38 loss.
Gene Chamberlain|
D'Andre Swift scores a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers in the second half Sunday night.
D'Andre Swift scores a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers in the second half Sunday night. | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears went west with a roster full of sick players and no one felt any better on their way back from Santa Clara, Ca., especially on defense.

Brock Purdy threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings with 2:15 remaining and the Bears ran out of comebacks in a 42-38 loss.

Caleb Williams drove them to the San Francisco 2-yard line looking for a seventh comeback win this year but a rollout pass as time expired fell incomplete, short of Jahdae Walker. Williams appeared to have Colston Loveland open for an instant at the back of the end zone on the play but didn't throw it then.

"It just wasn't enough and when you go on the road against a good tam like that you've got to be on top of your mess the entire time and we just weren't," coach Ben Johnson told reporters afterwards.

Purdy threw for 303 yards on 24 of 33 with three touchdowns and ran two in for the win in an epic high-scoring struggle. Williams finished 25 of 42 for 330 yards with two TDs.

After an early 34-yard pick-6 by linebacker T.J. Edwards for his first career touchdown, the San Francisco 49ers and Purdy moved the ball at will on Chicago's defense, but the Bears' offense kept fighting back.

They broke a 35-35 tie on Cairo Santos' 29-yard field goal to end a 78-yard drive with 5:22 remaining but the 49ers countered with a 38-yard Prudy touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings with 2:15 remaining.

The Bears had fought back to tie after falling behind 28-21 at halftime with a 2-yard D'Andre Swift touchdown run on the first drive of the second half, a 10-play, 65-yard march. Then Swift tied the score at 35-35 early in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard TD run up the middle for another tie.

The defeat dropped the Bears to 11-5 and ended any thoughts of winning top NFC seed and a first-round playoff bye. It made their season finale against Detroit an essential game if they want to stay remain the second seed, as they're tied now with Philadelphia but control the tiebreaker. The Eagles close by hosting Washington. As second seeds, the Bears would host the Packers in the first playoff game.

After falling behind 7-0 on Purdy's first pass—Edwards' 34-yard return of Jaylon Johnson's deflected pass—the Niners moved it both on the ground and in the air at will.

The sickness didn't seem to affect the Bears much but probably didn't help. DJ Moore played with an illness and had one 7-yard catch. cornerback Nahshon Wright and tackle Darnell Wright also played sick but gutted it out.

The 49ers were without tight end George Kilttle but had no problem moving the ball. They came in ranked next to last in yards per rush at 3.6 yards and by halftime Christian McCaffrey had piled up 121 yards on 18 carries. The Bears and an injury slowed him in the second half and he finished with 23 carries for 140 yards.

The 49ers had 173 yards rushing in the first half, 164 passing on 14 of 20 from Purdy, and scored on Purdy's 1-yard pass to former Bear Jake Tonges, McCaffrey's 5-yard run and Purdy runs of 3 and 10 yards.

The Bears' offense tacked two first-half touchdowns on to their defense's TD and they trailed 28-21 at halftime and kept on firing.

Williams hit Luther Burden for a 35-yard TD and Colston Loveland for a 36-yarder in the first half and Burden finished with eight catches for 138 yards. Loveland had six for 94 but both had key drops in the final drive to the 3-yard line.

One key was the 49ers holding the Bears' running game to 110 yards rushing, but much of that had to do with their ball control and the way their own offense moved the ball.

The Bears will finish at home Sunday at 3:25 p.m. in a home game with Detroit before hosting a wild-card round playoff game.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.