5 big takeaways from Chicago Bears' blowout loss to 49ers in Thomas Brown’s debut

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The post-Matt Eberflus era for the Chicago Bears is off to a rocky start.

In the Bears' first game after firing Eberflus, the San Francisco 49ers dominated from start to finish in a win over the Bears, 38-13, on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Interim head coach Thomas Brown‘s team looked overmatched against the 49ers, who won the NFC a year ago, but who have been beat up by injuries this season. The Bears dropped to 4-9 on the season.

Here are the five big takeaways from a disappointing afternoon for the Bears.

1. Uninspired

None of the positive vibes that Brown brought into Halas Hall translated into results on the field. The Bears were run out of the building by what looked like a deeper, more talented team.

Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers offense ran circles around the Bears defense, even with the 49ers missing several key starters. Brown had nine days to prepare his team to play, but there was no interim coach bump for these Bears.

“I don’t make excuses,” Brown said. “Whether I have a week or five months, the goal is to win football games and we didn’t win.”

I don’t make excuses. Whether I have a week or five months, the goal is to win football games and we didn’t win.”

—  Thomas Brown, Bears interim head coach

As if the result of the game wasn’t embarrassing enough, Shanahan squashed any rumors that surfaced this week that he would welcome a trade out of his job in San Francisco.

“I don’t want to be any place in the world more than here,” Shanahan said.

He continued: “You guys are going to have to kick me out of here.”

Bears fans can cross him off their coaching wish list.

2. Lackluster 1st half

For the second game in a row, the Bears were comically outmatched in the first half. Last week against the Lions, the Bears were out-gained by the Lions, 279 total yards to 53, in the first half.

Somehow, the Bears played a worse first half on Sunday. The 49ers out-gained the Bears with 319 total yards to four. Yes, four. As in four total yards through 30 minutes of football. As in 0.2 yards per play. The 49ers had 14 first downs. The Bears had one.

Most importantly, the 49ers led the game, 24-0, at the break.

“If we had the answer we would have solved it by now,” quarterback Caleb Williams said of the slow starts. “As players, as coaches, it’s not something that you want to do because that puts you behind in games and when you’re behind in games … you’ve got to come back, and it’s a taller task."

It was the worst possible start for the interim head coach.

“We didn’t stay on the grass offensively [or] take over on third down, and we just gave up too many explosives on defense,” Brown said.

3. Defense falls apart

The key difference between the awful first half in Detroit vs. the awful first half Sunday was that the defense wasn’t pulling its weight. In Detroit, the Bears kept the Lions out of the end zone, forcing field goals.

On Sunday, in the first game without Eberflus calling plays for the defense, it looked as if the Bears defense was outmatched. San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy led his offense to touchdowns on three of its first four possessions. Purdy connected twice with receiver Jauan Jennings and rookie running back Isaac Guerendo added a rushing touchdown.

The Bears continually lost tight end George Kittle. Kittle racked up 138 yards by halftime and finished the game with 151 yards on six catches.

“He’s an elusive guy,” Bears linebacker TJ Edwards said of Kittle. “He does a lot for them in terms of protection and then route running and yards after catch, he’s really good with that too. Yeah, he just kind of made things happen, and we didn’t.”

This was a 49ers offense playing without All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams and without last year’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year in running back Christian McCaffrey. Both missed the game due to injuries.

Purdy finished with 325 passing yards and two touchdowns on 20-for-25 passing.

4. Odunze steps up

The lone bright spot on the day was a good game from rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze. The No. 9 overall draft pick found the end zone for the first time since Week 3, and he did it twice.

After halftime, the Bears put together a 70-yard scoring drive to start the third quarter. It provided a brief – and short-lived – glimmer of hope.

The Bears capped the 70-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Odunze in the back corner of the end zone. Odunze made a tough contested catch and managed to tap both feet in bounds.

“[I saw] it opening up and was able to make a play on it,” Odunze said. “Perfect throw in the back of the end zone. Was able to make a toe drag to get the second one.”

Odunze later scored on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Williams early in the third quarter. Odunze finished the afternoon with four catches for 42 yards and two touchdowns.

5. Where does this team go now?

Even though the 49ers won the NFC last season, this game felt winnable because San Francisco is banged up and was coming off three straight losses. Instead, the Bears were run out of the building by a team with a 5-7 record coming into the game.

After this result, it’s fair to wonder if the Bears – who lost their seventh consecutive game – will win another game this season.

The Bears round out the season with a trip to Minnesota next week, back-to-back home matchups with Detroit and Seattle, and finally a road contest at Green Bay to end the season.

If the season ended now, all four of those opponents would be in the playoffs.

The Bears ended the 2022 season with a 10-game losing streak. If they lose out this season, this would be an 11-game losing streak to finish the season.

“It’s definitely been a tough year, but life has its ups and downs,” Bears pass rusher Montez Sweat said. “Just kind of ride the wave. I’ve got confidence that we’re going to get this thing right, eventually.”

Asked what gives him that confidence, Sweat said: “Winning.”

Notably, that’s something this Bears team hasn’t been doing.