This week's Film Study is one of those recurring episodes where the Bears slowly realize their fired head coach wasn't the biggest problem after all.
On Sunday in Santa Clara, the Bears were at a distinct disadvantage in both coaching and talent. The biggest mismatch was the 49ers' front seven dominating the Bears' front. Second place was George Kittle vs. the entire defensive secondary.
San Francisco knew how to find gaps in the Bears' zone defense, utilized the best playmaker on the field and consistently cashed in with clever play designs. Sorry to deliver bad news, but the 49ers somehow souring on head coach Kyle Shanahan and trading him to the Bears is extremely far-fetched. Not only that, but the Bears can't afford to give up any draft picks. They need better players ASAP.
The 49ers started the game by gaining 56 yards on consecutive simple plays — a running back delay and tight end screen. They targeted Bears' linebackers on 11 passes and completed nine for 170 yards, according to pro-football-reference.com. Then when the Bears finally did score, on the opening possession of the third quarter, the San Francisco defense forced them to take a whopping nine minutes off the clock.
The Bears did get some pressure on quarterback Brock Purdy, but even with 11-time Pro Bowl lineman Trent Williams on the shelf, the 49ers still rushed for 131 yards.
The good news is the Bears' streak of narrow losses is over. The bad news is it ended with a blowout loss. But this was a mismatch we should have seen coming. After all, one of these teams played in the Super Bowl last season and the other had two top-10 draft picks.
Built to fail
Here's a sequence that sums up how things went for the Bears offense. Their second drive started at the 6-yard line because Josh Blackwell fair-caught a punt instead of letting the ball bounce into the end zone. The Bears got one first down, but things bogged down quickly.
First down was a good example of the ongoing max-protect problems. New coach Thomas Brown wants Caleb Williams to stay clean, so he kept a tight end and running back in to block, sending just three receivers on a route. Problem is, the 49ers brought just four rushers, meaning those three receivers were trying to find room against seven defenders. Williams had plenty of time but couldn't thread a pass to Keenan Allen through the linebackers.
D.J. Moore dropped a pass on second down. Then on third-and-10, the Bears sent five receivers into the pattern, with no extra pass blockers and guess what happened? The 49ers again rushed four but sent old friend Leonard Floyd on a stunt and when he popped free to Williams' right, both Matt Pryor and Darnell Wright stopped what they were doing to pick him up. The guy they were blocking, Yetur Gross-Matos, was then free to make the sack.
Williams was sacked 6 times on Sunday, but he's probably getting used to that by now.
Where's Kittle?
How were the Bears so unprepared for a tight end screen on the opening possession? Well, we can count the ways.
The Bears blitzed Kyler Gordon and running back Isaac Guerendo stopped him in his tracks. The 49ers sent three receivers deep, occupying the entire Bears secondary. And No. 3, George Kittle gave a convincing fake, starting the play by throwing a solid pass block on DeMarcus Walker before popping out to catch the screen.
So the Bears were completely sold on the deep pass and unprepared for the screen. T.J. Edwards was waiting, but he had two San Francisco offensive linemen in front of him and no help behind him. Kittle rumbled 33 yards to the 7 and the rout was on.