The 4-8 Chicago Bears will play the 5-7 San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in a Week 14 matchup. Here’s what you need to know before kickoff (3:25 p.m., Fox-32).
5 things to watch — plus our predictions
Caleb Williams saw the offensive coordinator and head coach that drafted him fired in the span of three weeks last month amid a six-game losing streak. The rookie quarterback admitted it hasn’t been easy navigating the Bears’ trials.
“Human nature, we’re not necessarily meant to be consistent for 365 days,” Williams said. “So that is the battle to fight for myself, for my teammates and coaches and everybody. I will say it’s not easy to keep going and roll with the punches and keep fighting and things like that, but you have to do it.”
Williams and Thomas Brown adjusted fairly well in their three games together with Brown as coordinator, and they’re hopeful that they can continue Sunday against a 49ers defense that has stumbled recently.
The 49ers gave up 73 points and 697 yards in their last two games against the Packers and Bills. And they very well could be playing Sunday without star defensive end Nick Bosa, who was listed as doubtful with hip and oblique injuries. Read more here.
Bears ‘leaning in’ to Thomas Brown
Multiple players said Brown’s direct and clear approach to communication, his energy and his focus on accountability and unity have helped ease the coaching transition.
“(Brown) is very deliberate in how he talks to us,” left guard Teven Jenkins said. “Everything he’s telling us right now is very intentional and all of us are very locked in. Everybody is sitting at the front of their seat, leaning in.”
Now, Brown and the players hope to ride his spark and put an end to a maddening string of losses that have turned their season upside down. Read more here.
- Column: Thomas Brown’s top priority as Bears interim coach? ‘To unify this team’ amid chaos and division.
- Bears players saw change coming amid 6-game skid — and hope to find a spark under Thomas Brown
- 3 things we learned from the Bears, including Jaylon Johnson not backing down from postgame eruption
- Column: In promoting Thomas Brown to interim head coach, are the Bears putting Caleb Williams’ development at risk?
‘The most coveted job’ in the NFL
Bears President Kevin Warren sat alongside general manager Ryan Poles and said they would work “in tandem” to find the team’s next head coach.
Warren said Poles will remain the GM and will be the “point person” in identifying the replacement for Matt Eberflus. Citing the Bears’ salary cap space, young roster, upcoming draft capital and, of course, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, Warren called the Bears opening “the most coveted job in the National Football League this year.” Read more here.
- Bears Q&A: Why should fans believe they’ll get it right this time?
- Column: Leave it to the Bears to botch a coach firing even your Aunt Martha could see coming
- From George Halas to Thomas Brown: What was said about every Bears coach when they were hired
- Bears have had 18 head coaches. Here’s a look at how past coaches fared — and when they left the franchise.
Moving on from Matt Eberflus
Matt Eberflus became the first Bears head coach fired midseason when general manager Ryan Poles dismissed him with a 14-32 record, including 2-13 in the NFC North.
Eberflus’ two-plus seasons as coach were filled with distressing losses and missteps as he tried to turn a rebuilding team into a winner. That didn’t happen. Read more here.
