Dhruv Koul shares his in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the Bears-49ers game at Levi’s Stadium. Follow him on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — If you’ve been living under a rock the last week or so, I wanted to take this time to remind you that the Chicago Bears are NFC North champions.
It feels great to type that.
A week after the Bears exorcised their Green Bay Packers’ demons at Soldier Field and clinched the NFC North title, they traveled to San Francisco to take on a pesky 49ers team that lost their starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, early in the year. But under head coach Kyle Shanahan, they’ve continued to cause their opponents massive headaches, upsetting Seattle in Santa Clara the previous week.
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The Bears still had plenty to play for, as not only did they need to hold off Dallas for the third seed, but they had an outside shot at a first round bye entering play on Sunday. For that reason, head coach Matt Nagy said there was no way he would rest Chicago’s starters, though Eddie Jackson and Aaron Lynch missed the game due to injuries sustained last week against Green Bay.
I wanted to see a couple things from today’s game (apart from a win, of course): The team staying healthy and (especially QB Mitch Trubisky) playing well on the road. The Bears’ biggest games (and wins) this season have all come at Soldier Field, where they finished 7-1. And their road record prior to today was a respectable yet aggravating 3-3, with all three losses of the disgusting heartbreak variety (Green Bay, Miami and New York).
Apart from a win, I want to see two things:
1. Bears escaping healthy
2. Trubisky playing well on the roadSan Francisco won't be like New Orleans in January, but any improvement away from Soldier Field will help his comfort level.
Prediction: Bears 23, 49ers 13. https://t.co/Se7Th571d2
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) December 21, 2018
As I mentioned above, playing against a 4-10 team in San Francisco wasn’t going to be the same as playing New Orleans in the Superdome, of course, but any experience and success playing away from Soldier Field would be valuable for this team, especially the quarterback.
In the end, the Bears survived some truly ugly, brutal football in all three phases of the game to pull out a tough road win and clinch the third seed!
I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game at Levi’s Stadium below.
PRE-GAME
1. It’s all about Mitch Trubisky and how he plays today. After a putrid return from his shoulder injury against the Los Angeles Rams in prime time, Trubisky was excellent in the division title clinching game against the Packers, saving the Bears on consecutive strong drives in the second half after Green Bay seemed to be seizing momentum. His penchant for coming out strong after bad games is well documented this year, but I want to see him continue his success today with another strong performance on the road against a pretty solid defense.
2. Former Bears’ kicker Robbie Gould, a Chicago legend and one of the greatest kickers in the history of the league, single-handedly outscored the Bears last season at Soldier Field, when the 49ers came in to Chicago and beat the Bears 15-14 thanks to Gould’s five field goals. But this week, Gould told the Chicago media that he was excited that the Bears were good again and he was planning on taking his kids to the Bears’ home playoff game in the (likely) Wild Card Round. It’s great to see that the sting of being released by Ryan Pace a few years ago is dissipating and he still supports his former team and city he still calls home. He’s a free agent this coming offseason, and while there’s little to no chance the Bears re-sign him due to the financial commitments made to Cody Parkey, I have little doubt that he will eventually retire a Bear. I hope he has a chance to join another contender next year.
3. With Dallas winning in the early set of games, the Bears need to win today to clinch at least the third seed. Let’s hope that’s enough motivation to play well today.
FIRST HALF
4. Not a great start. After trading punts, the Bears drove down the field thanks to an excellent Allen Robinson catch of a rainbow from Trubisky. But Robinson got hurt on the play and headed to the locker room after being checked out in the medical tent. Meanwhile, the refs missed a DPI on a great throw to the end zone to Adam Shaheen that would’ve been a touchdown. The Bears had to settle for a field goal try, which Cody Parkey sailed wide right. Of course the kicking woes had to reappear in a game with Robbie Gould on the opposing sidelines again. Of course. Still 0-0 after half a quarter, and the Bears are down their best WR already.
5. I was confused by Matt Nagy’s decision to challenge the Dante Pettis potential fumble at first. But there was a replay angle where it looked like his knee may have just hovered over the turf but not actually made contact with it. Still, there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call on the field of “down by contact”, so the Niners kept the ball and two plays later, Robbie Gould drilled the kick straight through. 3-0 49ers with about 11 minutes left in the first half. What a sleepy game so far, and the Bears have looked pretty poor.
6. What exactly was that RPO design and decision by Trubisky to Tarik Cohen? A terrible play all around resulting in a fumble in super-plus territory for the 49ers. I mean, at least try? Yikes. On the other end, Prince Amukamara stared right through an INT possibility, letting the ball drop in front of him. Result, another Gould FG for a 6-0 Niners lead. Wow.
I literally have no idea what the fuck the Bears are doing on offense today.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) December 23, 2018
7. Really nice bounce-back drive for the offense and Trubisky. He made some really nice plays with his feet and some nice throws. He got picked off in the end zone on an awful decision but was bailed out by a defensive holding call (maybe he knew he had a free play?). Either way, a few plays later, Trubisky found Anthony Miller in the end zone for a 7-6 Bears’ lead. Great for Miller, too, as he’s been conspicuously absent from the passing attack the past few weeks, though he’s been involved on kick returns. Good to see him back and contributing.
8. I have no words for the officiating at the end of the first half. That is horseshit. There is no way San Francisco got that first down, but the refs stayed with the call on the field after the booth review. Unbelievable. A gift timeout for the Niners led to another Gould FG and a 9-7 going into the half for SF. And they get the ball back after halftime. But more importantly: That. Was. Not. A. First. Down.
These referees should be fired at halftime.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) December 23, 2018
SECOND HALF
9. After the Bears got the Niners to punt on the opening possession of the third quarter, the Bears drove 90 yards in seven plus minutes to reclaim the lead on Jordan Howard’s two-yard touchdown run. The drive was a thing of beauty from an execution standpoint, even though it seemed that it might end in disaster early on twice. Allen Robinson fumbled on the first play though he was later ruled down by contact. And two plays later, Trey Burton fumbled after he was already down. For some reason, the Bears refuse to make it easy on the viewers today. But good execution on that drive to rest the defense and take the lead. Bears lead 14-9.
Also, congratulations to Mitch Trubisky, who joined the 3,000 passing yards in a season club for Chicago.
Running the football with Jordan Howard is sexy, Bears. Do more of it.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) December 23, 2018
10. Nick Mullens has been pretty solid today, thanks to more wizardry by Kyle Shanahan. And George Kittle is a lot of fun to watch. The Bears were gifted an INT after Marquise Goodwin failed to haul in a pretty good pass from Mullens. It glanced off his hands and into the arms of Danny Trevathan. Huge stop after the Niners had methodically driven their way to the Bears’ red zone. This game hasn’t been particularly inspiring, but the Bears have a chance to pull out a surprisingly tough road win. The Niners are scrappy, well coached and still in this game despite some mistakes on both sides (more on the Bears). Give them credit.
11. Here’s what we just learned: The Bears will do anything for their quarterback. If the Bears win, this is what I hope gets addressed during the Club Dub video.
Say what you want about Mitch Trubisky (hint: don't), but I love the way this team literally just fought for him. They are all in on this guy. Love this team.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) December 23, 2018
12. I’m stating this early, but up to the point of the fight, Trubisky has had, by and large, a pretty solid game today on the road. I look forward to grading him in detail after the game, but initial thoughts are: A relatively strong effort given the circumstances of the game. And again, on the road against a tough, scrappy team. Look forward to him building off this performance.
13. Matt Nagy’s aggressiveness to go for it on fourth-and-inches on his own side of the field (after he should’ve been given the first down anyway after the challenge) is something to admire. Play to win. And Trubisky’s strong QB sneak converted it. And then Trubisky with a BIG TIME throw on the ensuing third down to Allen Robinson, timing the pass perfectly and placing it only where Robinson could get it. Huge conversion. Trubisky closing the game out the last two weeks with some STRONG play.
Mitch Trubisky > Mariano Rivera.
— Dhruv Koul (@DhruvKoul) December 23, 2018
14. Except Allen Robinson didn’t get the memo. After catching the game clinching third down slant, he just had to go down. Instead, he kept running and the ball was punched out, with the Niners recovering. That’s inexcusable. Robinson has to be smarter than that. He just has to. And you know the coaches are giving him an earful right now. Now the defense has to go try to protect the game again.
15. Nick Mullens gave the game away on a terrible decision on fourth down. Phew! Bears move to 11-4 and lock up the third seed!
16. This was an ugly game where the Bears played awful football overall against a motivated home team and they still won. There were plenty of shades of the Cardinals’ game in this one, but they survived nonetheless. Good to see.
17. The regular season comes to a close next week with the Bears heading up to Minnesota to take on the Vikings, who have everything to play for. I’m not going to try to figure out all the playoff scenarios, but there’s a strong chance Matt Nagy will rest his starters, at least some of them. I think Trubisky should play a bit to get more experience in a super hostile environment. But we’ll see what happens.
Early prediction: Vikings 24, Bears 17. Bears end the regular season at 11-5 and move on to January.
