CHICAGO – Soldier Field’s natural grass has been widely known for years as a poor surface in adverse weather conditions.
However, when the weather took a turn for the worse on Sunday, Bermuda’s newly rolled out turf held up much better than the 49ers did in the regular season opener.
The 49ers slumped to a 19-10 loss to the Bears in a game that featured costly penalties, turnovers and plain sloppiness.
Defensive end Nick Bosa described the team’s inability to come away with a win as “upsetting.” There are many other ways to sum it up.
And here are the notes summarizing his tough Week 1 performance:
Hasty offense
The 49ers thought they leaned heavily on their run game, and that’s what they did. San Francisco pounded the Bears on the ground in the first half with 115 yards and a 6.4-yard average. Elijah Mitchell left in the first half with a knee injury.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel scored the game’s first touchdown on a 6-yard run.
But he also made the first costly mistake of the game when he ran in the second quarter when the 49ers moved the ball to the Chicago 12-yard line.
The 49ers found the yards much harder to come by in the second half, but still finished with 176 yards rushing and a 4.8 average.
Quarterback Trey Lance was the 49ers’ leading rusher with 54 yards, while Samuel gained 52 yards.
Grade: B-minus
Offense of passing
Lance, making his first start after officially taking over for Jimmy Garoppolo, had an up-and-down game. He opened his press conference with a list of the mistakes he made, including overthrew Tyler Kroft on what should have been a first touchdown.
When the 49ers were trailing in the fourth quarter, Lance didn’t see Bears safety Eddie Jackson. That interception gave the Bears a short field that was used for a touchdown with a nine-point lead.
Items played a big role in this game. Lance completed 13 of 28 passes for 164 yards. But Lance took full responsibility.
Jauan Jennings was the team’s leading receiver with four catches for 64 yards. Brandon Aiyuk caught two passes for 40 yards, and Lance connected with Samuel just twice (on eight attempts) for 14 yards.
Grade: D-minus
hasty defense
The 49ers’ run defense was solid from start to finish. Chicago running back David Montgomery had a hard time finding room to run. He was held to just 26 yards on 17 rushing attempts.
The Bears gained 99 yards on 37 rushing attempts. Khalil Herbert averaged 5.0 yards per attempt and gave Chicago a nine-point lead with a 3-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter.
The 49ers had six tackles for loss, including two by strong safety Talanoa Hufanga. He had a team-high 11 tackles, and linebacker Fred Warner added six tackles.
But the 49ers also had some mistakes as part of their defense. Dre Greenlaw received two penalties: unnecessary roughness and facemask. Both calls were questionable.
But there was no doubting a mistake by Azeez Al-Shair, who pounced late on a sliding Justin Fields for a 15-yarder.
Grade: B-plus
pass defense
The 49ers allowed just 19 net yards in the first half. This included dismissals of Samson Ebukam and Nick Bosa, as well as Hufanga’s interception.
But one play completely changed the momentum of this game.
The 49ers had a seemingly comfortable 10-0 lead in the third quarter when Fields avoided Arik Armstead’s rush, moved left and then threw back across the field to uncover Dante Pettis on the right side. The 49ers’ secondary didn’t do a great job of chasing down Pettis, who turned it into a 51-yard touchdown.
This play took away a lot of the good things the 49ers did in this game. It gave the Bears momentum.
Fields finished the game with just eight completions on 17 attempts for 121 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Grade: B-minus
Special equipment
Punter Mitch Wishnowsky had a solid game with a net average of 40.3 yards and three punts inside the 20-yard line on his four attempts. Tarvarius Moore made a nice play when he dropped into punt coverage and dropped Pettis for a less than 3-yard return.
Robbie Gould handled the kickoff duties as the Bears opened those drives on their own 23-, 25- and 28-yard lines. Gould also made a 25-yard field goal and an extra point.
Degree: B
Coaching
If we blame penalties and various errors on the coach, then this is a reprehensible grade. And the coach certainly has to take his share of the blame for the product the 49ers put on the field.
There was immediate second-guessing about coach Kyle Shanahan’s decision to challenge a completed pass that resulted in only a 4-yard gain on first-and-10. However, the down-and-out play may have contributed to the Fields interception on third down.
The 49ers did not collect any points.
Things looked sloppy everywhere, so there’s a lot to clean up as the 49ers get back to work for their Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Degree: D
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Generally
Clearly, this was a game the 49ers should have won. But they let too many scoring opportunities slip away. The next thing anyone knew, the Bears were standing right there, just one big play away from a dramatic swing in momentum.
It’s too early to worry too much about this kind of performance. But it was also a horrible way for a team with Super Bowl aspirations to open the season.
You may have noticed that we haven’t given a failing grade to any particular team unit. But the overall score is a big one.
Grade: F
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