The San Francisco 49ers remain in the hunt for the No. 1 seed after one of the games of the season in the NFL.
The Niners escaped Levi’s Stadium on Sunday night with a highly entertaining 42-38 victory over the visiting Chicago Bears. With the victory, the 49ers improved to 12-4 on the year and can be the No. 1 seed in the NFC if they beat the visiting Seattle Seahawks (13-3) in their final game of the regular season next Saturday night.
The Bears (11-5) had already clinched the NFC North title and a home playoff game with Green Bay’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday. However, first-year head coach Ben Johnson and his Bears showed some vulnerabilities in the team’s second loss in their last four games.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Brock Purdy is heating up at the right time for San Francisco
Purdy improved to 6-0 since returning from the injured reserve while nursing a turf toe injury. He threw an awful interception return for a touchdown 34 yards by Chicago linebacker T.J. Edwards on the opening play of the game.
After that, Purdy played high-level football and finished 24-of-33 for 303 yards and three touchdown passes with two rushing touchdowns. He has 19 total touchdowns and just four interceptions during that six-game winning streak.
And, oh yeah, the 49ers finally punted for the first time in the month of December – a string of 23 straight possessions without punting the football. Thomas Morstead punted twice on Sunday night.
2. Bears’ defense can’t contain McCaffrey and the 49ers’ ground game
McCaffrey entered Sunday’s game ranked second in the league in scrimmage yards (1,888) and topped 1,000 rushing yards last week. He torched Chicago’s run defense for a season-high 140 yards and a touchdown, serving as a nice balance to Purdy and San Francisco’s passing game.
McCaffrey now has 10 games with at least 100 scrimmage yards and a touchdown, tied for the most in the NFL.
Entering Sunday’s contest, the Bears allowed 131 rushing yards in a game (No. 27 in the NFL). The Bears must improve in that area if they expect to advance beyond the Wild Card round.
3. Caleb Williams closes in on a franchise-record 4,000 passing yards
Williams had one other spectacular efficiency for Chicago, preserving the Bears within the sport by throwing for 330 yards and two landing passes. Williams now has 3,730 passing yards via 16 video games. He wants simply 109 yards to interrupt the Bears’ single-season file of three,838 yards held by Erik Kramer.
Williams wants 270 yards to turn into the primary Chicago quarterback to eclipse the 4,000-yard passing mark in a season. He has accomplished simply 59.5% of his passes, so accuracy stays a difficulty for the second-year quarterback out of USC.
4. Trent Williams‘ hamstring damage may very well be a tipping level for injury-ravaged 49ers
San Francisco has handled a barrage of accidents to frontline gamers this 12 months. Linebacker Fred Warner and defensive ends Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams out for the remainder of the season, whereas tight finish George Kittle and Purdy have missed a handful of video games on the opposite facet of the ball
Williams, an All-Professional left deal with, was the newest to go down on Sunday evening with a hamstring damage on the opening play and having to depart the sport. Williams was changed at left deal with by Austen Pleasants and didn’t return.
Williams being out for an prolonged interval may show an excessive amount of for the 49ers to beat. Since 2020, the 49ers are 60-32 with Williams within the lineup and 4-12 with out him whereas averaging 5 fewer factors per sport.
4 ½. What’s subsequent?
San Francisco hosts Seattle with the NFC West division title and the No. 1 seed on the road, which is admirable for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan contemplating all of the damage points his group has confronted this season. That sport will probably be on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. ET.
The Bears are locked into the No. 2 or No. 3 seed within the NFC and can end the common season by internet hosting the NFC North-rival Detroit Lions. Head coach Ben Johnson will finish the season by dealing with his former group for a second time.
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for greater than a decade, masking the Los Angeles Rams for Sports activities Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma Information Tribune. Comply with him on X at @eric_d_williams.
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