Penalties, Turnovers Doom 49ers, Spoil Opening Of Levi's Stadium
By Jerrell Richardson
After racing out to an early lead, the 49ers watched the Chicago Bears come all the way back, take the lead and turn the opening of Levi's Stadium into an unsuccessful one. As they won in week 1, the 49ers lost in week 2, as a team. Colin Kaepernick committed 4 turnovers, and the San Francisco defense could do nothing as the Bears offense got hot just in time, resulting in a 28-20 victory for the road team.
There is plenty of blame to go around, but in the end the reason for the loss was simple, and it's not that the better team won. The reason the Chicago Bears were able to pull off the upset is that San Francisco played perhaps as undisciplined a game as they have under Jim Harbaugh's watch. They committed bonehead penalties and turnovers, and in the end, simply put, didn't deserve to win.
Offense: D
The offense starts and ends with the man under center, so Colin Kaepernick gets to be the scapegoat. The dual threat quarterback made some positive plays with both his legs and feet and a lot can be said for what he did right, but there is no around the fact that he had a terrible game. He threw for 248 yards, rushed for 66 and threw a touchdown, but committed 4 costly turnovers. One of his interceptions was a lucky play, and the other was partially the blame of his tight end running himself into coverage, but Kaepernick still threw them, added a fumble, and late in the game when his team needed a score, number 7 couldn't deliver.
Michael Crabtree was the only bright spot offensively, pulling in 7 receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown. No other receiver had more than 3 catches and were either covered or due to the pass rush were unable to be seen in time to get them the ball.
Despite a vulnerable Bears front the 49ers wanted to pass the ball so Frank Gore only saw 13 touches and finished with 63 yards. He had a long touchdown scamper that was called back on a bogus holding call, and played modestly when given the chance. Carlos Hyde was handed the ball 4 times and went nowhere (0 yards). Jonathan Martin was the most obvious, but the entire offensive line was off Sunday Night, making it almost impossible for the offense to get into rhythm.
The offense shot themselves in the foot with turnovers and penalties. Chicago played a cleaner game, got the momentum on their side and turned the 49ers into a one dimensional attack.
Defense: D+
The 49er defense played better than the scoreboard showed, and went into the break with just 7 points scored against them. The second half was another story however, as San Francisco had no answer for Jay Cutler who lead his team to 21 points during their second half comeback. The 49er defense was the victim of a short field after an interception, but when considering that both Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey were less than 100%, the defense should be worried as to how poorly they played late in the game.
Jay Cutler started slowed, but finished with a bang. He threw 4 touchdowns to zero interceptions, and in the red zone, 3 times found a gimpy Brandon Marshall, all while picking the San Francisco secondary apart. Marshall was not the only target though, as Cutler found Martellus Bennett 7 times, Alshon Jeffrey caught 3 passes, and 6 different receivers in all caught a pass. It was a good thing Cutler was on fire as the Bears needed the passing game to carry the load.
Patrick Willis led the way with 8 tackles, and he, along with Mike Wilhoite did an outstanding job of completely taking Matt Forte out of the game. Cutler, who finished with 25 yards outrushed Forte who only managed 21 yards. The problem is that even with no Forte, the 49ers still were not able to overcome the penalties that extended so many Bear drives.
Special Teams: B
The San Francisco Special teams played well, but could only do so much in their limited action. Phil Dawson was 2-2, connecting from 24 and 27-yards, while Andy Lee, was only asked to punt once and boomed a kick 54-yards that left the Chicago returner with no room to work. Bruce Ellington did muff a punt that he was able to get back, and was otherwise bland. He touched the ball 5 times in the return game and did nothing to stand out.
How Did They Lose?
A look down the stat sheet and you can see how the game was close, but not how the 49ers didn't win. They had more passing first downs, rushing first downs, higher 3rd down completion rate, more total plays, over 100 more total yards and won the time of possession. However, the big ones are the penalties, turnovers and red zone.
Losing Formula
San Francisco committed 13 penalties that cost them 118 yards, and resulted in 6 Bears first downs. Chicago had more first downs from penalties than they did rushing the ball. Colin Kaepernick had 4 turnovers while the Bears had none, and in the red zone Chicago went 4 for 4 while the 49ers were only 2 for 5. So while they might have played the better fantasy football game, in the real world penalties and turnovers come into play, and San Francisco cost themselves an important victory.
Silver Lining
If there is one positive thing to take from this defeat, it's that it's the 49ers and not their opponent that was the reason for the loss. The team just has to get back to basics, clean up the mistakes and get back to the level of play that allowed them to be one of the NFC's best the past two seasons. They had better as another performance like this will quickly put the 49ers playoff chances into jeopardy.
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Jerrell Richardson is a Bay Area native who due to a college career at San Diego State University has grown an appreciation for all things sports related in California. His heart will always remain in San Francisco though where he currently resides and covers everything from the San Francisco 49ers and Giants to the San Jose Sharks and California Bears Baseball team. Jerrell is a freelance writer covering all things NFL. His work can be found on Examiner.com.