EMPHATIC VICTORY
Determined 49ers get contributions from many as they come from behind to end slide
CHICAGO >> Deebo Samuel saved the 49ers’ season.
Or Jimmy Garoppolo did. Or credit the 49ers’ offensive line that pushed Elijah Mitchell over the goal line, then followed by opening a lane for Garoppolo’s second touchdown run of his pressure-packed homecoming game.
The 49ers desperately snapped a four-game losing streak Sunday with a 33-22, comeback win against the Chicago Bears, who needed more than rookie quarterback Justin Fields’ magic on a Halloween Sunday at Soldier Field.
“Huge team win,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We kept talking about whatever it took to win is what we had to do. We didn’t care whether it was 2-0 or ended like that. Was just real proud of the guys.”
Eventually, it fell on the 49ers’ defense to preserve a fourth-quarter lead, a defense that’s been unreliable all season and especially on third downs. Fields remarkably ran for a touchdown to threaten the lead, but he later was sacked by Samson Ebukam with 4 1/2 minutes left, and then came a Josh Norman interception with 1:34 to go.
Arguably, it also came down to whichever kicker missed at which inopportune moment, and the Bears’ case was certainly hurt by Cairo Santos’ missed point-after kick in the fourth quarter to keep them behind 23-22.
In the end, the 49ers (3-4) won on the road, as was the case their first two games of the season, and next up is a Sunday home date with an Arizona Cardinals team that is 7-1 but could be without quarterback Kyler Murray (ankle).
Here are the highlights from this one:
SUPER SCREEN >> Nothing like an 83-yard screen pass to spark a comeback.
On third-and-19, Samuel snatched Garoppolo’s pass at the 11-yard line, then weaved his way through traffic, with helpful blocks by Brandon Aiyuk and Alex Mack. Samuel dove to get the ball onto the left pylon for an
apparent touchdown, only to have a replay review nix that and state Samuel had stepped out of bounds at the 1.
“It just starts with the o-line and as you can see, it was a quick little pop screen and the whole left side of the offensive line got to get out and be lead blockers,” Samuel said. “I was just following them and it just popped open and I just handled the rest.”
Samuel dropped a Garoppolo pass on Sunday’s opening snap. Another drop came later. Then, every time he caught the ball, he looked on a mission to make a positive difference. He hauled in a 50yard bomb by Garoppolo to set up a field goal to cut the halftime deficit to 9-6.
Samuel came away with his fourth 100-yard game this season, totaling six catches for 171 yards (18 shy of his season-opening total at Detroit). His 819 yards are the most ever by a 49er through seven games, eclipsing Jerry Rice’s 1986 mark of 781 yards.
GAROPPOLO SCORES >> Garoppolo passed for 322 yards (17 of 28, no interceptions) and ran for two touchdowns in a remarkable return to the site of his first 49ers’ start in December 2017.
“We came ready today,” Garoppolo said. “There was a good mindset on the sideline. Guys were talking. You could feel each other. And when we’re playing like that, that’s when we get dangerous.”
He took it upon himself to score the 49ers’ first touchdown at Soldier Field since Torrey Smith’s 2015 walk-off winner. On third-and-goal from the 2, just as Samuel joined him in the backfield, Garoppolo took the snap, cut up the left side behind Kyle Juszczyk’s block and body slammed the goal line.
Such quarterback runs figured to come from his backup or substitute, Trey Lance, but the rookie kept a coat and beanie on along the sideline. He was coming off a sprained knee from three weeks earlier and Shanahan said afterward he was only going to play if Garoppolo got hurt.
MITCHELL GETS MOVING >> Elijah Mitchell’s 5-yard go-ahead touchdown run didn’t look like it was going to get more than a yard. Then he kept his legs moving, and blockers engulfed him to push the moshpit over the goal line for the lead. Brandon Aiyuk caught a 2-point conversion pass from Garoppolo to make it 23-16.
“You could see a lot on one play kind of what our team is feeling right now,” Shanahan said. “We knew we had to hunker down . ... You can just see how important it was to all 11 guys out there because we needed all 11 to get them in the end zone.”
Added center Alex Mack: “I was in there somewhere pushing. It’s a pretty cool play.”
Mitchell helped seal the win with a 39-yard run to the 24, and that put him over 100 yards for the rookie’s third game this season. He finished with 137 yards on 18 carries. SACKING FIELDS >> Passed over by the 49ers at the No. 3 draft slot, Fields showed off the dual-threat prowess that made him the Bears’ pick at No. 11. He proved tough to bring down, whether on a scramble, a keeper or even a sack.
His 22-yard touchdown run, with 9:32 remaining, showed off just elusive he is. He covered 59.6 yards on the play, according to NextGen Stats.
Fields nearly got sacked by Arik Armstead at the 30-yard line, then cut past a bevy of defenders, including Fred Warner, who got leveled by a Jason Peters block. (A missed point-after kick kept the 49ers in the lead.)
Nick Bosa was also among the band that couldn’t get to Fields on that scoring play. Bosa did, however, notch two sacks to raise his teamleading total to seven, two shy of his 2019 rookie total. “Obviously he’s super athletic and strong. He’s definitely going to have a good career,” Bosa said of Fields, who’s had been sacked an NFL-high 22 times entering the game.
He got sacked four times in this one (a 49ers single-game high this season) but still ran for 103 yards (10 carries) and passed for 175 yards (19 of 27).
Samson Ebukam picked a great time for his first sack of his 49ers’ tenure: on third down to force a Bears punt with 4 ½ minutes to go. Marcell Harris got credit for a fourth-down sack after tackling a scrambling Fields.
AIYUK LIVES >> Brandon AIyuk’s four catches for 45 yards was a season high for the embattled, second-year receiver. He also delivered a 21-yard punt return to the 49ers’ 48-yard line, the best field position to start a drive of the day, and it led to a goahead touchdown. Another example of Aiyuk making a long-awaited resurgence: his blocking on Samuel’s 83-yard screen, and on a fourthquarter Mitchell run that Aiyuk singled out as his favorite play of his Sunday.
“B.A. played his butt off today. He was great,” Shanahan said. “I knew he had a chance going into the game. He’s strung together a number of good weeks here. And I felt like this was the main week where his game really went up in practice where he gave me a lot of confidence throughout the week, gave the quarterbacks a lot of confidence, our team.
“And I could feel it from him all week, and I felt it today. So big props to BA today.”
WISHNOWSKY GAME BALL >> Punter Mitch Wishnowsky arrived in Chicago at 7 a.m. after attending the overnight birth of his daughter. Shanahan awarded a game ball to Wishnowsky’s wife, Maddie, for a delivery that allowed the 49ers to suit up their punter, even though they did not punt. Every possession ended with a field-goal attempt or touchdown, except the final kneeldowns to kill the clock. THIRD-DOWN DEFENSE >> The 49ers proved no match early on for the league’s worst third-down offense. The Bears opened by converting on 6-of-7 third-down snaps, much better than their 31.3-percent rate prior to facing the 49ers. The Bears converted only 2-of-8 third downs after that blistering start. “We had to be more stout and wrap up our tackles. It’s going to be way better moving forward,” linebacker Fred Warner vowed.
Norman came to his press conference carrying the football from his interception, which took the sting off his team-leading sixth penalty earlier in the game (defensive holding on third down).
The 49ers defense, to its credit, did not add to its NFL-high total of 14 pass-interference calls.
“You guys were talking about it all week. We were just making sure we stayed on top of it,” Norman said. “Played lights out pretty much all game. Fields was held to something like 170 yards passing. If you can do that in the National Football League, it’s a good day from the secondary.”
INJURY UPDATES >> Safety Jimmie Ward pulled a quadriceps muscle and was ruled out in the fourth quarter, an injury that could sideline him multiple games, Shanahan fears. The only other injury concern was to Warner but he cleared a concussion check and returned for the fourth-quarter stand. Tight end George Kittle (calf) and kicker Robbie Gould (groin) are expected to come off injured reserve this week. SLYE’S STORY >> Joey Slye’s third game as Gould’s injury replacement opened by missing a 48-yard field goal attempt. He recovered to make tries of 48, 52, 22 and 32 yards but did miss an extra point.