Chicago Bears vs San Francisco 49ers: Week 13 Keys to the Game

While some want the Bears to lose for a better draft pick, John Fox will have his troops coached up to win. If the Chicago Bears follow these keys, they will earn their third victory of the year.

The Chicago Bears find themselves in a winnable matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. Bears fans possess reason to believe that this is the last winnable matchup on Chicago’s schedule.  Before we look ahead to today’s matchup, let’s see how the Bears did on last week’s keys:

1) Take the pressure off Matt Barkley- The Bears allowed 27 points and the receivers accounted for 10 drops. Also, Barkley threw 54 times. If accounting for 54 plays of the offense isn’t pressure, I don’t know what is. Fox continued to rely on the pass despite Jordan Howard averaging 4.7 yards per carry. To say the game was put on Barley’s shoulders is an understatement, and that means the Bears lose this key.

2) Defense, win the ballgame- The second half was much better, but they still allowed 27 points, In addition, the defense had no sacks and no turnovers. This game was mostly placed on Matt Barley’s shoulders. In a game where the defense needed to step up, they were largely passive. The Bears lose this key as well.

3) Who’s going to step up and lead- Unfortunately, the Bears lacked a true leader on the field throughout the whole duration of the game. Barkley looked solid in the second half, but it’s hard to look like a true leader when you have 26 incompletions and 2 interceptions. The defense is built to lead the Bears, but no one stepped up. Pernell McPhee and the pass rush were unable to record a sack for the second straight week, and Adrian Amos failed to lead the secondary. Chicago fell short on this key as well.

Last week’s keys: 0/3

Here are three keys to guarantee the Bears’ third win of the year.