SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Let’s just get this out of the way. Let’s cut right to how the Chicago Bears reacted to Sunday’s 38-13 trouncing by the San Francisco 49ers.
“We got our butts kicked,” interim coach Thomas Brown said. “There’s no other way to say it. So I’ll just be straightforward, honest and open about the things that transpired.”
So much for a potentially energized effort from the Bears in their first game since Brown replaced fired head coach Matt Eberflus.
What about that horrific first half in which the Bears were outgained — wait for it — 319-4 yards?
We repeat: 319-4!
“They were just getting big chunks,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “Against an explosive team like that, it’s hard to stop.”
So how on earth will these Bears, as ragged and fatigued and despondent as they so obviously are, regroup and refocus to play not one, not two, not three but four more games before this season comes to its merciful end?
“Nobody’s going to come save us,” Montez Sweat said. “We’re grown-ass men. We just have go into this next week and get back to work.”
Added Tremaine Edmunds: “This is a business. We have no other choice. We have to come to work and get better and figure out a way to win.”
Gross. All of this.
The last-place Bears have come totally unglued.
What a disaster.
On the bright side, the Bears didn’t have to deal with the anguish of a final-play loss for the first time in four weeks. So there’s that, right?
But they were also given a sobering reminder of just how broken they seem to be as an injury-depleted 49ers team, which entered Sunday on a three-game losing skid, pummeled them in every phase from the start.
In that wildly lopsided first half, the 49ers had a 14-1 advantage in first downs and built a 24-point lead.
Quarterback Brock Purdy had first-half completions of 23, 33, 20, 32, 27, 23 and 32 yards on the way to 258 passing yards before halftime.
The Bears? Their longest play of the first half went for 7 yards — a Caleb Williams dart to DJ Moore over the middle. But that was followed immediately by two incompletions, a 7-yard sack and a punt. Because of course it was.
The Bears first-half drive chart: punt, punt, punt, punt, punt. The last four of those possessions ended with third-down sacks.
Once again, the Bears were behind and chasing.
“It’s not something you want to do,” Williams said. “When you’re behind in games, you have to come back and that’s a taller task. And you don’t want to have to deal with that in every game.”
But the Bears have been doing that in just about every game this season. Twelve times in 13 games their opponent has scored first. Nine times, the Bears have trailed at halftime.
And during this current seven-game losing skid? Well, the Bears have played 427 minutes and 50 seconds of football but led for only 1:06 in the first half and 9:57 total.
Slow starts have become the calling card. But why exactly?
“That’s a great question,” Brown said Sunday. “If I had the answer, I would have already fixed it. It’s being able to understand how to settle ourselves into a game, being able to stay on the grass, convert on third downs and keep some drives going. That will be a point of emphasis for us moving forward.”
Sadly, though, there may be no parachute for this freefall as the failure accelerates with each passing week.
What if the Bears never get the fifth victory Tyrique Stevenson was once celebrating eight weeks ago?
What if this current seven-game slide reaches 11?
What then? Wouldn’t Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren have to go deeper with his evaluations as he oversees the grand reboot of 2025? Wouldn’t Warren have to take a detailed look at how a season that once held so much promise and optimism went this horribly wrong?
Just two short years ago, the Bears were given unwavering forgiveness as they stumbled through a 10-game losing skid to end their season. That, many reasoned, was for the best. The Bears’ roster was in the midst of being torn down in the first year of the Ryan Poles era. And by losing and losing and losing and losing, the Bears failed their way right into the No. 1 overall draft pick. All that ineptitude was embraced in Chicago as a convenient path to a brighter future.
But what about now? What if these Bears, who opened this season with playoff aspirations and rolled into their bye week at 4-2, somehow manage to break the record for the worst single-season losing skid in franchise history? What then? Might Poles become the next Halas Hall leader to be called to the front of the room for a pass-fail performance review?
That can’t be ruled out. It shouldn’t be ruled out.
Honestly, it’s hard to believe four more games remain for this group. And after Sunday’s beatdown, it’s difficult to count on the Bears being even reasonably competitive over the season’s final month, especially playing against four likely playoff teams.
On Sunday, third-string running back Isaac Guerendo piled up 128 yards from scrimmage on the Bears defense, scoring two touchdowns before leaving the game with a foot injury in the fourth quarter. All Guerendo’s exit did, though, was open the door for fourth-string running back Patrick Taylor Jr. to score the 49ers’ fifth and final touchdown.
Niners receiver Jauan Jennings was on the receiving end of both Purdy touchdown passes. And tight end George Kittle surpassed 100 receiving yards with 12:41 remaining before halftime.
What a butt-kicking indeed.
As with so many reeling Bears teams over the years, this group is now promising to go back and look at the game film and expressing its determination to become sharper with its execution. Buyer beware of those vows.
“It’s pretty cut and dried,” Edwards said. “The NFL is a results-based league. And (our opponents) are making more plays than we are. And we’re not doing enough to stop that.”
Thus, a mind-boggling losing skid continues. With no apparent end in sight.
