Bears Drop Winnable Game Against 49ers

Just Unfortunate

The Bears were close to putting away a lingering 49ers team on Sunday. Their Achilles heel throughout the year has been their inability to consistently move the ball, and it hurt the Bears on Sunday.
For 43 minutes, the 49ers and the Bears were tied at 13 a piece.
Then a scoring outbreak occurred.
Chicago connected on some downfield passes, to Alshon Jeffery and Marc Mariani respectively, and then punched it in with Ka’Deem Carey from four yards out.
After that, the Bears defense that had been good to that point collapsed, as they didn’t keep a spy on Blaine Gabbert who showed he can be a threat on the ground as he scrambled right down the middle of the field for a 44-yard touchdown.
Immediately after that score, there was a 74-yard kickoff return by Deonte Thompson that helped set up Robbie Gould for a short 36-yard field goal attempt to put the game away.
As time expired, Robbie missed… well to the left. 🙁

Smells Like Overtime

To start overtime, both offenses went 3 and out. On the 49ers second possession, they ended the game, as Gabbert connected on a 71-yard touchdown pass to Torrey Smith.
Not to stir up bad memories or bring anything up that is going to hurt anyone, but something about that play brings up memories of Chris Conte leaving Randall Cobb wide open.

Postgame Quotes

The Bears had a hard time making plays and missed opportunities in all three phases. John Fox echoed that sentiment after the game:

It comes down to us making plays in every area of the team. We just didn’t make enough.

Jay Cutler was proud of how the defense played and was displeased with the play of the offense:

I thought our defense did a heck of a job for us. We’ve got to play better offensively and that starts with me.

After missing two field goals, including the potential game-winner as the clock ran down, Robbie Gould is kicking himself.

I just missed both of them. There’s no excuse for it. I just didn’t get it done today.

Statistics

Eddie Goldman led the team with two sacks, followed by Willie Young with 1.5 sacks and Jarvis Jenkins had half a sack.
Shea McClellin led the team in tackles with 9.
Bryce Callahan, Kyle Fuller, and Will Sutton followed with four each.
Cutler was 18 of 31 for 202 yards, he threw an interception, and was sacked only once for eight yards.
All three backs had a solid afternoon. Matt Forte had 21 carries for 84 yards and a rushing touchdown. Jeremy Langford had 12 carries for 59 yards. Plus, he impressed with his pass blocking in this game. Carey carried the ball five times for 17 yards and a touchdown.
Jeffery made his impact by hauling in four receptions for 85 yards, and Forte added to his productive running day by bringing in 5 receptions for 39 yards.

In the End

I hate throwing in the towel early.
There’s still four weeks left. However, after this loss the Bears did not help themselves out in any way. Next week, the Washington Redskins come to town. They are in the hunt, just like every other team in the NFC East, to get in the playoffs by winning their division. Hopefully, the Bears realize that there are still things to play for…
Even if the playoffs look like they are fading away.