The San Francisco 49ers lost against the Chicago Bears 19-10 in the season opener on Sunday afternoon. The 49ers claimed that they have no one to blame other than themselves.
The 49ers’ quarterback Trey Lance made his debut as a full-time starting quarterback. Lance did a brilliant job by carrying the ball 13 times for 54 yards to lead the 49ers’ rushing attack.
Unfortunately, Lance failed to throw a touchdown. He finished the game with 13-of-28 for 164 yards and one interception. Those numbers showed that Lance wasn’t able to push the offense more. He understands that he didn’t perform well on Sunday afternoon.
Lance said he made too many mistakes during the game. “The defense kept us in the game. I had a big miss to Tyler Kroft in the end zone,” he said.”I tried to throw a perfect ball, and I should have just put it on him. He was wide open. I turned the ball over. I took a sack that knocked us out of field-goal range. I shouldn’t have missed Deebo on third down. I missed another third down to Jauan.”
Despite many mistakes, the quarterback is still excited and gets ready to go next week. He knows that there are a lot of things to clean up.
Aside from the quarterback, head coach Kyle Shanahan also told the reason why the 49ers lost against the Bears. He said that the reason for their loss is consistency or the lack thereof. The 49ers actually made a great start. The 49ers had control of the game early but could not take advantage of a good field position.
Shanahan said that they always talk about doing right longer. He thinks that day (Sunday) was the exact opposite of it.
The Niners were ahead 10-0 in the third quarter before Justin Fields and the Bears started to dominate the game. After cutting the lead to three in the third quarter, Chicago completely dominated the game with a 12-0 run in the fourth. Shanahan was disappointed that they were unable to maintain their momentum.
“We expect to go into games and win, no matter who it is,” Shanahan said. “We usually always feel that way, throughout the week preparing. But we’ve got to play a lot better and do things right a lot longer than what we did today.”
Kyle Shanahan: “We always talk about doing right longer. And I think today was the exact opposite of that.” #49ers
— Eric Branch (@Eric_Branch) September 11, 2022
Bears shut down Lance
Sunday’s game was supposed to be Lance’s big debut as the starting quarterback for the 49ers, but the Bears had other plans. The Bears’ defensive line proves that they could shut down Lance.
“What you think he did? He ain’t do s**t,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said after the win. “We made him play quarterback. We know he hurt us in the run game with his feet, and everybody knows at some point he’s going to run and make a play. But I feel like we had to really make him play quarterback.”
The Bears’ head coach applied the H.I.T.S (hustle, intensity, takeaways, and smart football) principle. The principle was then used in Sunday’s game against San Francisco.
Chicago’s game plan worked to perfection. They never gave Lance any chance. They succeeded in pressuring him 12 times. As a result, Lance only went 1-for-7 for minus-two yards and two sacks.
“Like I said, he’s still a young guy and I think he’ll end up being a good player for them,” Johnson said. “But it’s early. He has to go through it. I feel like we did exactly what I said we would. Make him prove himself as a quarterback.”