Chicago Bears Early Look Week 2: San Francisco 49ers
Sep 7, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) signals a play in the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Overview: The Chicago Bears will be taking a trip to Santa Clara this week to take on the San Francisco 49ers for the first regular season game in the brand new Levi’s Stadium. While the Bears are coming off a heart-breaking overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills, the 49ers are coming into this one on cloud nine after absolutely demolishing the Dallas Cowboys 28-17. If you didn’t catch the 49ers’ game on Sunday afternoon, I can tell you that the final score does not reflect the level of dominance displayed by San Francisco in that matchup. The 49ers offense predictably moved the ball nearly at will against a much maligned Cowboys defense, but a San Fran defense that many expected to falter, as they were missing several key players, answered the call and forced several turnovers and held a reasonably potent Dallas offense in check. This one might look bad for Chicago on paper, but don’t panic Bears’ fans. Football is not played on paper, and I still see hope for this game.
Injuries: Beyond the pre-existing injury to stud linebacker Navorro Bowman, current suspension of top pass-rusher Aldon Smith and imminent suspension of defensive lineman Ray McDonald, the secondary has to be the biggest concern for the 49ers heading into this game. San Francisco lost their top three corner backs at various points during the Cowboys game and all three are question marks headed into week 2. Starter Chris Culliver and nickel back Jimmie Ward both suffered concussions and will need to pass the NFL’s concussion protocol before they can be cleared for action, while second starter Tramaine Brock has an undisclosed foot injury. While their replacements did an admirable job defending Dallas’ receiving corps, the idea of having rookie Dontae Johnson or former Viking Chris Cook line up against either Brandon Marshall or Alshon Jeffery on a regular basis has me salivating.
Key Matchups: The obvious concern for Bears’ fans looking ahead at this game is a defense that allowed 193 rushing yards to the Buffalo Bills last week going against one of the best running teams in all of football, but there are a couple of bright spots I don’t want you guys to miss. First of all, the aforementioned injuries to the 49ers’ secondary bode well for the Bears’ passing attack. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on Alshon Jeffery and the hamstring injury that kept him from finishing the Bills game, but if he can go, he and Brandon Marshall should have no trouble making the 49ers corner backs’ heads spin on a regular basis. The other note is that San Francisco allowed 127 yards of their own on the ground to DeMarco Murray and company last week. While they did do better than most expected given the key players they were missing, the 49ers defense were definitely not their usual suffocating selves against the Cowboys. Matt Forte could be in for a big one this week.
The Way I See It: Despite the optimism earlier in the article, I’m not holding out much hope for the Bears this week. I do expect this game to be closer than the 32-7 debacle that happened the last time these two teams met in 2012, but I still think the Bears will be hard pressed to come out of this game with a win. The defensive issues that the 49ers are dealing with this week mean that this game has a decent chance of becoming a shootout, and anybody can win in a shootout, but I still think the odds are not in the Bears’ favor this week. Be sure to keep an eye on the Bears defense and look for signs of improvement. Fixing a defense as bad as the Bears were last season doesn’t happen overnight, but improvement could be a sign of good things yet to come.
What do you guys think? Do the Bears have a chance in this one? What do you think will be the deciding factor? Let me know in the comments section.