This is the live blog for the 49ers 2022 season opener against the Chicago Bears in Chicago. I will provide updates and analysis from the Soldier Field press box throughout the game.
8:30 There has been a steady rain for the last 90 minutes. The tarp came off about 30 minutes ago and there are already huge puddles from inside the numbers out to the sidelines.
Players have been on the field warming up and there are splashes coming up with each step they take. Trey Lance has already dropped a shotgun snap, and receivers are having a hard time holding onto the ball as well .
8:40 Inactive today for the 49ers: Brock Purdy, Ty Davis-Price, Danny Gray, George Kittle, Daniel Brunskill, Nick Zakelj, Jordan Willis
For the second year in a row the rookie running back drafted in the 3rd round is inactive for the opener. Actually, both 3rd round pics from this year are inactive today with Danny Gray joining Davis-Price on the sidelines.
8:55 Inactive for the Bears: WR Velus Jones, DB Elijah Hicks, DE Jonathan Kingsley, OL Ja’Tyre Carter, OL Alex Leatherwood, TE Trevon Wesco
With Velus Jones out, it looks like former 49er Dante Pettis will be the Bears primary punt returner today.
9:15 Blake Hance will be the backup at center today for the 49ers.
9:28 Tashaun Gipson lining up at safety opposite Talanoa Hufanga with the starting defense. George Odum and Tarvarius Moore with the backups.
10:02 49ers won the toss and deferred. The Bears will get the ball to start this game.
10:05 Justin Fields opens the game with a throw to the left. Samuel Womack nearly came away with the interception.
10:06 Samson Ebukam sacks Fields on 3rd down. The 49ers will take over at their own 43. Great start.
10:10 Lance has Aiyuk wide open on an over route off play action and hits him for a gain of 31. On the next play Deebo Samuel runs around the left side and fumbles when he is hit. Chicago recovers at their own 12.
Samuel had trouble holding on to the ball in the rain last year against Indianapolis at Levi’s Stadium. His fumble after a reception late in the first half led to the Colts taking a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
10:16 Charles Omenihu is lining up inside at defensive tackle on passing downs. DeMeco Ryans used Arden Key in this role during the second half of last season.
10:17 Dre Greenlaw had his hands on running back David Montgomery but couldn’t wrap him up, leading to a 16 yard gain.
10:22 Talanoa Hufanga with his first career interception to end the Bears possession. He made a nice stop on a run the play before. Not a bad start for the second year safety.
10:28 Trey Lance had Tyler Kroft wide open on a wheel route down the left sideline but overthrew him. That miss leads to 3rd and long where Mike McGlinchey was beat by Dominique Robinson for a sack. 49ers have to punt.
10:32 The 49ers are a Deebo Samuel fumble and Trey Lance overthrow from being up at by at least ten right now. Will the missed opportunities come back to haunt them?
10:34 Emmanuel Moseley misses a tackle on first down leading to a gain of eight. On the next play Dre Greenlaw is called for a personal foul and the Bears are out to the 30. That looked like a bad call.
10:37 Talanoa Hufanga continues to play well in this first quarter. The safety blows up a screen leading to a loss of two. Javon Kinlaw down after the play. Kevin Givens is in to replace him.
10:39 Nick Bosa is so good. Had a quarterback hit earlier and comes up with a sack of Fields on 3rd and 8 to end another Bears possession.
10:42 After a pair of Elijah Mitchell runs sets up 3rd and 3, Lance avoids pressure but throws behind Jauan Jennings over the middle. Jennings was being used in a tight end tole on that play, he started in the backfield before motioning to the slot on the left side.
10:44 The first quarter comes to a close with the game tied at zero. The 49ers have dominated, but have nothing to show for it.
10:48 The 49ers defense is dominating. They come up with a quick three and out and Ray Ray McCloud returns the ball to the 48. Good field position once again.
10:53 What a throw by Trey Lance. On the second play of the drive, he throws it to Ray Ray McCloud for a gain of 20 yards. McCloud was running an over route from right to left and Lance got it right over the head of a Bears defender.
10:56 The wide back makes the Bears pay. Deebo Samuel with a run around the right side and powers his way into the endzone to give the 49ers a 7-0 lead.
11:02 Dre Greenlaw with a tackle for loss on first down and Charvarius Ward with his first pass breakup as a 49er on second down leads to another quick three and out for Chicago.
Javon Kinlaw is back in the game for the 49ers after going down with an injury earlier.
11:08 That’s why the 49ers brought in Trey Lance. 3rd and 13, and he picks up 13 on a quarterback draw. He’s been on target for the most part as well.
11:10 On 3rd and 9, Lance checks down to Jeff Wilson for a short gain, but he had Deebo Samuel over the middle. Was a little quick on that one. 49ers punt it away.
11:19 They just announced that Elijah Mitchell is out for the rest of the game with a knee injury.
11:21 Samson Ebukam loses contain and Justin Fields takes off for 12 yards. Fields is starting to get comfortable moving around. He’s gained 26 yards rushing on this possession.
11:24 Charvarius Ward with tight coverage on a deep throw down the right sideline forces Chicago to attempt a 47 yard field goal. The punter is then called for unsportsmanlike conduct because he brought a towel out to wipe down the grass. That’s not allowed. Bears punt.
11:27 Halftime: 49ers 7 Bears 0
This game shouldn’t be close right now.
11:35 Trey Lance finishes the first half 6-10, 70 yards throwing and three rushes for 21 yards.
Elijah Mitchell with 41 yards on six carries and Deebo Samuel with 40 yards and a touchdown on six carries.
On defense the 49ers have sacks by Nick Bosa and Samson Ebukam. Talanoa Hufanga has an interception and they’ve held Justin Fields to 19 yards on three of nine throwing for a passer rating of 2.8.
11:51 The 49ers offense opens the second half with a long drive, led by a big run from Deebo Samuel and a 44 yard connection from Lance to Jauan Jennings.
The offense stalled in the redzone. On third and goal from the four, Lance doesn’t throw to an open Ross Dwelley and is sacked.
Robbie Gould comes on to kick a short field goal to give San Francisco a 10-0 lead.
11:58 Talanoa Hufanga has been all over the field today. Drops the running back for no gain.
On the next play though, the 49ers lose contain on Justin Fields and he finds Dante Pettis all alone on the right side for a 51 yard touchdown. It’s now 49ers 10 Bears 7.
12:03 The 49ers have so many missed opportunities in this game. The Lance overthrow to Kroft. Deebo Samuel’s fumble. Not throwing to Dwelley, and Gipson not coming up with the interception on that last possession.
12:08 The 49ers pick up a first down, but Lance is forced to scramble on the next third down and is tackled just short of the line to gain.
12:13 Rookie cornerback Samuel Womack is beat on a wheel route up the right sideline by Byron Pringle for a gain of 22. A couple plays later Fields breaks contain and Ward is forced to grab the receiver to stay with him leading to another first down.
The 49ers defense dominated in the first half, but the offense couldn’t take advantage. Now the game is in doubt as we enter the fourth quarter.
12:22 Justin Fields caps off the Bears drive with an 18 yard touchdown pass to cap an 84 yard drive and give Chicago a 13-10 lead.
Azeez Al-Shaair called for a personal foul on a short run by Fields. Such a tough play for the linebacker as the quarterback started to slide just as he got to him.
12:28 Trey Lance never found himself down in the fourth quarter in college. It will be interesting to see how he responds.
12:35 Lance is intercepted on 3rd and 5 as he tries to hit Jauan Jennings on a slant to the left. Stared it down the whole way and led the defender right to it.
12:39 Chicago takes advantage of the turnover. Khalil Herbert takes it in from three yards out to give the Bears a 19-10 lead.
12:53 The offense has been unable to do much in the second half. Lance throws wide on 4th down and the 49ers are going to start this season 0-1.
Go Niners!
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Looking at the slick conditions I’m going to be holding my breath every time Ray Ray fields a kick. 😳
Surprised to see Willis and Brunskill inactive.
Mr. Gov.
Is Brunskill fully healthy yet?
While playing on a wet field gives me some pause. It’s a game like this one, in these playing conditions that can show us what Trey can do with his legs.
The one weakness of the wide 9 is, large gaps for QB’s to run through/around.
best of luck to tRey and the team!
Hufanga!
key mistakes early
This reminds me of the Washington game a few years ago
Got to hope the D can score.
The O has squandered a few opportunities that could have made it so Chicago was playing uphill.
Let’s hope the offense can get some rhythm.
Same ole Deebo!!!
Good to see Deebo engaged. He missed OTA’s and some camp.
Is Mason active today?
Michell..out for the game with bad knee
Look for Wilson and mason in the second half. So sad to see Michell go down so soon.
I was hoping for an end zone shot at the end of the first.
You let a team hang around long enough…….
Yup.
That is something this team has had issues with for a few years.
who blew he coverage on Pettit
Greenlaw responsible for that TD regardless of who lost coverage on the broken play.
Terrible game for Greenlaw today.
The Bears O line is holding on every single pass attempt.
So the best Dline can’t overcome holding by a very weak Oline?
The Bears offense mostly consists of Niners penalties.
Well its not like we didn’t expect it. The O line has been horrible in the 2nd half. They can’t open any holes for the run and they are worse at pass blocking
Fields out playing Trey.
Because he can hit two wide open targets?
What happened to our top defense? Way too many mistakes. So far this is on the defense.
Where on earth is AiyuK? Not a good game for Kyle either.
I had a very bad feeling about this game. If the Bears get a TD here, it is over. The defense is leaking oil, badly.
If the O-line doesn’t play better, this team is going nowhere this season. Hard for a young developing QB if he is always under pressure.
Lance won’t last past game 4 with this O line and then we get a less mobile JG
Look for a losing season. Try was never worth 3 picks. One pick was even questionable based on such a small resume.
Oh please. You’re quitting already beFore even one game is complete?
Endless mistakes
This kind of O line has ruined more young QB’s than anything else
OL is as horrible as we thought.
Forgot Juice was even on the team until that last miss.
I think Lance threw a lot of bad balls this second half. The pressure got to him.
This was a total team loss. As has become custom, Shanahan did not have this team ready to play. The defense blew it in the second half at every opportunity. The O-line can’t pass block at all, and is hard pressed to run block when the defense knows a run is coming on every play. Some day Shanahan will learn to value pass blocking.
Finally, Lance has a ton of work to do. The most troubling is his inability to complete a pass out into the flat consistently. There are no easy throws for him right now. So the offense had no easy ways to pick up yards through the air.
well said
Niners had a bad first half that set up the horrible second half. They should have scored far more in the first half. Sloppy play and a bad game for Kyle.
Kyle is the most overrated coach in the NFL I can’t believe how people rave on about his play calling I have been saying it for years he is no good I think he drinks to much of his own bath water. Why play lance if your not going to spread the field might as well have stuck with Jimmy 🤦♂️
Kyle has spent the majority of his time as OC/HC with a offense in the bottom half of the league in points scored. Somehow nobody seems to want to see that.
This is just getting too stupid now. Players play the game.
Kyle bet the house on this team. These are his guys, his team.
He needs to deliever.
That ‘s just the way it is.
This “Allie” person will be a handful this season. Penalties, bad weather , bad Offensive line and injuries killed the 49ers.
People always want to make excuses the facts are the coach has not prepared them well enough for the first game so the buck stops with him. There was still no excuse not to spread the field today than being so predictable as he always is it’s time to get a new offensive coordinator Kyle is to predictable.
You are making the excuse that it was Shanahan’s fault yet not once did he step on the field. The problems were on the field. Penalties, turnovers, giving up 2 wide open touchdowns are the real reasons.
Who is surprised?
Not a good start for the season.
A lot of football left to go.
Ky;le needs to sort it out before next week.
All those Lance Lovers who thought he should have been the starter last season need to reconsider him. Lance should return to North Dakota State to complete his scholastic education and complete his athletic development. He is not yet ready for the NFL and while he’s a nice person he isn’t what the Niners need. How the coaching staff handles this mess will be fascinating to observe.
Right. I forgot it’s always the fault of either the QB or the Coach and if either has a bad game then they are the worst P of S. The definition of Fan sure has changed.
Well, that was a stinker.
This loss was a total team effort. And there’s blame to go all around on this one.
Yes, Trey made some mistakes especially missing a potential TD pass in the 1st QTR. His Int in the 3rd QTR was a bad read.
But, he also made some runs and nifty scrambles to avoid being tackled for a loss.
Verdict – he’s going to get better.
Oline looked overwhelmed on many occasions.
Verdict – they’re going to get better.
Defense sat on their pre-hype laurels and played like all they had to do was show up to win.
Verdict – they were underwhelming and undisciplined.
Overall – good first game wake-up call.
Agree
I agree.
That was ugly and lots of blame to go around. But the Def disappointed me the most. 3 TDs in a row against that Bears Offense was awful. We had the game at 10-0 and forced the beards to would have been a punt but a series of 3rd-down-extending drives penalties will show up.
BTW, what is going on with the run game? It hasn’t been dominant lately. Mitchell went out and run game disappear and became Deebo and Lance.
We won all the statistical categories by a large margin except penalties and turnovers. That’s the game, everything else is BS.
Hey Felix definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result that is Kyle play calling.
So what did Shanahan’s play calling have to due with 12 penalties, 2 turnovers and 2 wide open touchdowns by Chicago. I know it’s easy to blame the coach but it’s more fun, to learn the game and watch it with your eyes open.
His play calling when we wore dominating the first half not able to shut the game out and put scores on the board. We should have been up by at least 2 touchdowns with all that possession and field advantage he can’t get it done and it’s been proven thru his whole career. When your constantly running the ball your keeping the opposition in the game. He needs to start throwing more than running the ball we seem to always get found out in the second half and that’s because he does the same thing over and over.
You want to blame KS fine, blame him for things he can control. Like drafting, signing and developing O linemen. He and JL have done a terrible job building a decent O line. Right now the only O lineman they have who is any good is Williams every one else is just plain bad. The D will improve. The RB’s, TE’s and WR’s will get better. Lance will not improve a bit until they put a decent O line in front of him. Right now Lance’s development reminds me of J. Plunkett and or David Carr bad O lines destroyed Carr and almost destroyed Plunkett. imho
This O-line scares me the most. And what’s up with the running game? Has not been dominant lately…
This is exactly right. There is no reason whatsoever the 49ers should be starting this O-line. It’s a bad line. I really can’t believe the 49ers traded all those picks for Trey Lance and they put him behind this o-Line. It’s roster malpractice. Makes no sense whatsoever.
So where would you go to find better linemen? Every team in the league probably would like to have better linemen but they don’t grow on trees. Every good lineman out there was a rookie once.
Anthony. Oh so it’s not Shanahan who people call a genius, it’s you. LMAO.
Jack
One thing was obvious, the 9ers were NOT prepared to play the Bears today! Failure to execute and TOO MANY MISTAKES, just like the start of last year!
* The question is, will the $#it show begin now? Will fingers be pointed, everything questioned, blame be assigned, or will a win against Seattle next week fix all the problems? TBD!
QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED:
* How to explain and fix the O’s missed opportunities in the first half? And what happens if we get the same results against the Seahawks?
* “IF the 9ers are a run first offense, is the IOL a playoff caliber unit?
* For a 9er defense that claims to be one of the best, and deepest in the NFL, how are all the mental mistakes explained?
IF NOTHING ELSE, THIS GAME IS A WAKE UP CALL TO THE ENTIRE 9ER ORGANIZATION! IF THE 9ERS GET THE SAME RESULTS AGAINST THE SEAHAWKS NEXT WEEK, IT WILL TURN INTO A $#IT SHOW!