The 49ers had their biggest win of the season on Sunday.
For 13 weeks, we had been waiting for the San Francisco 49ers to piece together a complete and dominant game that was on display so many times in 2023. Well, it finally came on Sunday as the 49ers thrashed the Chicago Bears 38-13 in their biggest win of the season, improving to 6-7.
With the win, the 49ers kept their slim playoff hopes alive, although they remain two games back in the NFC West after the Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Offensively, San Francisco came out shooting and generated 452 yards of total offense, while converting five of their six opportunities in the red zone.
Defensively, the 49ers had a shutdown first half and absolutely neutralized the Bears passing attack, sacking Caleb Williams seven times and limiting Chicago to just 162 total yards.
Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers 38-13 win over the Bears.
Fast start
For much of the year, the 49ers have been lauded as a team that couldn’t play consistently for 60 minutes, not taking advantage of enough opportunities early in games before faltering in the second half in many of their losses.
Well, one way to alleviate that concern is starting off scorching hot, which the 49ers did with a quick five-play, 70-yard touchdown drive off the opening kickoff. That was their first touchdown on an opening possession since Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams this season, and just their second overall time.
The defense responded with a quick three-and-out and forced Chicago to punt again after San Francisco was stifled at midfield. That was the only time they’d get stopped in the first half, however, as the 49ers followed that up with back-to-back touchdown drives and would’ve had a third straight if not for a holding penalty.
Instead, they settled for a field goal on the ensuing possession, getting 24 points in the first half alone. For reference, the 49ers had scored 24 points or more just once since Week 6.
But, it wasn’t only the offensive side of the ball that was impressive; the defense was absolutely stellar in the first half, forcing four three-and-outs while allowing just one first down during the first 30 minutes.
Chicago ended the first half with just four yards of total offense, in comparison to 319 yards for the 49ers. Talk about a fast start.
Get to Caleb Williams
In my keys to the game, I mentioned the importance of finding ways to get to Caleb Williams in this one, as his passing numbers were much worse when under pressure, while the rookie had a tendency to hold on to the ball for a much longer period of time.
Well, without Nick Bosa, the 49ers defense put together a statement performance, sacking Williams seven times, while limiting him to just 134 passing yards on the day.
Yetur Gross-Matos and Leonard Floyd, San Francisco’s two free-agent additions on the edge, combined for five sacks in their best performances of the year, while Maliek Collins had a sack as well.
Against a Bears offense that really couldn’t get anything going, sacks were drive-killers and San Francisco managed to effectively limit the dropback game and force Williams to hold on to the ball one too many times on Sunday.
The 49ers pass rush will need to be better at complementing Bosa when he returns and Sunday was a step in the right direction for that aspect.
Target your top players
The 49ers needed to be more successful in the passing game after two ugly weeks and, as mentioned above, they came out screaming on Sunday.
Brock Purdy finished the game with 325 passing yards and two touchdowns with an 80 percent completion rate in one of his cleaner games of the year.
His top two receivers? George Kittle and Jauan Jennings, who combined for 13 catches, 241 yards, and two touchdowns on 14 targets. Talk about being explosive and efficient.
Those 14 targets were 56 percent of Purdy’s overall volume on the day and no other receiver got more than three targets on Sunday.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan created some wide-open looks for the 49ers top pass-catchers, deciphering through Chicago’s zone-heavy defense in a big way, and the team looked to get their top weapons the ball early and often.
Kittle had a 33-yard screen pass on the opening possession. Jennings had the opening catch, as well as the ending catch with a seven-yard touchdown grab to make it 7-0.
And it went from there. I wrote earlier this week how Kittle needed to be used more as a receiver, especially without Brandon Aiyuk in the fold. Brock Purdy targeted him early and often and it resulted in explosive plays of 33, 23, 18, and 32 yards all in the first half.