The Chicago Bears didn’t respond well to their first in-season coaching change in franchise history.
Instead of getting an emotional boost from the change, the Bears suffered a blowout against the San Francisco 49ers, losing 38-13 on Sunday in their worst defeat of the season.
“We got our butts kicked,” said interim coach Thomas Brown, who took over after Matt Eberflus was fired. “There’s no other way to say it.”
Eberflus was fired on November 29 after a series of bad decisions in close games led to a six-game losing streak. This included a Thanksgiving loss at Detroit, where the Bears failed to get a potential game-tying field goal off, even though they had a timeout left.
There were no major mistakes late in the game against the 49ers, as the outcome was mostly decided by halftime. The Bears (4-9) were outgained 319-4 in the first half, with only one first down and a 24-0 deficit at the break.
The Bears’ defense allowed San Francisco (6-7) to move the ball easily, with the 49ers scoring three touchdowns and a field goal on their first five possessions.
Chicago couldn’t get anything going on offense, with minus-3 yards passing due to four sacks and losing 37 yards on five failed third downs. It was the team’s largest loss since falling 41-10 at Kansas City in Week 3 last season.
“We got our (butt) kicked today,” said rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. “There’s no way around it. We got it handed to us. As an offense, defense, special teams, myself, we have to come out and be better. We have to have our screws screwed. We have to be on point, and that’s not what happened today.”
Williams had shown improvement in recent weeks, especially after Brown took over as play-caller following the firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
However, Sunday’s performance was a big setback. Even though Williams threw two second-half touchdown passes to rookie Rome Odunze after the game was mostly decided, he finished with 134 yards on 17-for-34 passing, lost a fumble, and was sacked seven times. The Bears gained just 88 yards on his 30 dropbacks.
Williams’ 56 sacks this season are the most for any Bears quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
“We continue to try to find ways to get our guys open so we get the ball out on time,” Brown said. “When you’re behind and having to come back in games, you’re kind of forced to have to drop back more, which obviously exposes you more to sacks.”
But the problems weren’t just with Williams and the offense.
The Bears’ defense allowed several big plays, with nine plays from scrimmage for the 49ers gaining at least 20 yards, the most the Bears have allowed in any game in the past nine seasons. Chicago also gave up their most points and tied for the second-most yards (452) in any game this season. The defense struggled under Eric Washington, who was calling the plays in place of Eberflus.
“I thought our prep was really good this week,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “I thought we had a really good plan and again, we didn’t execute. They kind of made things happen and we didn’t.”
