49ers fold late, spoiling home-opener vs Bears

The Chicago Bears who had not beaten the San Francisco 49ers on the road since their lone Super Bowl season in 1985, had the odds stacked against them after falling behind early on Sunday night as the 49ers kicked off the grand opening of their new home -- Levi's Stadium. Facing the Bears for the first time since his coming out party in Week 11 of 2012 when he shined in place of the injured Alex Smith on Monday Night Football to eventually win over the starting QB job, Colin Kaepernick followed up a flawless Week 1 performance vs the Cowboys with one of his ugliest outings yet. Out of the gates, however, the Niners had all things working for them as they forced a three and out on Chicago's opening possession before blocking a punt which set up an easy touchdown as Kaepernick connected in the end zone with Michael Crabtree.

Hoping to crash the party, things didn't look good early for Bears QB Jay Cutler and company as Chicago was unable to put anything on the board offensively for almost the entire first half. A Phil Dawson field goal and a rushing touchdown from Frank Gore gave the 49ers a 17-0 lead as San Francisco threatened to take a big lead into the locker room at the half despite two turnovers by Kaepernick. It took them until the last minute of the first half, but the Bears were able to wake up on offense and exploit San Francisco's rookie cornerback Jimmy Ward who was outmatched by the much taller and stronger Brandon Marshall as the Pro Bowl wide-out came down with three of Jay Cutler's four touchdown passes on the evening. 

A second field goal by Phil Dawson to open up the start of the second half gave San Francisco a 20-7 lead. But where Cutler excelled in the second half, showing poise and patience, Kaepernick crumbled. The Bears, who entered the game with a record of 3-140-1 all-time when trailing by more than 16 points on the road, rallied behind a pair of 4th quarter turnovers by the 49ers QB to score 21 unanswered-points in the second half to pull out the comeback win, 28-20. By no means did Jay Cutler have a monstrous day throwing the ball as he finished with only 176 yards passing, but he managed to play mistake-free football and capitalized on good field position whether it was created by penalties (there were 26 of them overall, 16 by SF) or on turnovers. Kaepernick, who was near perfect in the season-opener, was anything but in prime time as he finished with 248 passing yards, 64 yards rushing, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions and 1 fumble.

After allowing more than 100-yards rushing to Dallas' DeMarco Murray in Week 1, the 49er defense were lights out in defending the run, holding the Bears' Pro-Bowl running back Matt Forte to only 21-yards on 12 carries and even did a good job in containing Chicago's stellar receiving tandem in Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery who combined for only 95 yards on 8 receptions. But it's where three of those passes hauled in by Marshall were caught. Bears tight-end Martellus Bennett also caught a touchdown pass from Cutler, spoiling the debut of Levi's Stadium.

Week 3 Preview: With little time to lick their wounds and prepare for their next game, the 49ers will take a trip to the desert where they'll meet the (2-0) Arizona Cardinals who currently sit in first place in the NFC West with both San Francisco and Seattle being tagged with losses in Week 2. Despite the absence of Quarterback Carson Palmer who will also sit out vs the 49ers in Week 3 while nursing a shoulder injury, Arizona had no trouble on the road where they defeated the New York Giants, 25-14 behind backup QB Drew Stanton. Hoping to get back in the win column, the 49ers will look to make Stanton's second start of the 2014 season a rough one. 


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