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49ers win ugly, break losing streak
By Morris Phillips November 12, 2009 |
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The 49ers escaped on Thursday night, with a 10-6 win over Chicago, their first win since October 4. The storyline coming in was the Bears-49ers’ survivor could continue to envision themselves in the playoffs. But based on the ragged play of the 4-5 Niners, it’s hard to see. “I think for us, we took a step,” coach Mike Singletary said. “I think we hung in there, we fought, we didn’t lose our poise, (although) we did some dome things at times with the penalties.” “We wanted to win this game, get some momentum, get our confidence level high and continue to win,” Vernon Davis said. Like going to the dentist with a mouth full of cavities, the 49ers and Bears had all their problems on display to a national audience on Thursday night. Consequently, it wasn’t pretty. The Bears, lacking any perimeter threats, couldn’t have threatened any team’s defense. The strong-armed Jay Cutler threw five interceptions and resembled Brett Favre in his dark period as he attempted to will his Bears to victory. The Bears’ short story might be: Jay Cutler’s good but not good enough to overcome the lack of talent around him. Meanwhile, when it’s third down, the 49ers force you to close your eyes--on both sides of the ball. Alex Smith, with his three-interception performance against the Titans still fresh, looked tentative all evening. His out pass to Josh Morgan on third down on the first play of the fourth quarter looked like a shot in the dark. On third and goal on the subsequent drive, Smith rolled right and threw it away with Morgan breaking free in the right corner in front of him. The 49ers had to settle for a field goal and a 10-6 lead. As the evening wore on, the 49ers revealed their hand: don’t let Alex beat us. Smith completed 16 of 23 for 118 yards and late in the game, the 49ers were content to hand the ball to Frank Gore on third down, rather than let Smith throw. While Smith was a winner for the first time in more than two years, he didn’t have that look, and everybody from the top row of the stands to Coach Singletary could sense it. On defense the 49ers just don’t have quickness in coverage or skills in pursuit that you need to win at the NFL level. Patrick Willis is a linebacker. It only seems like he’s a safety because he’s needed so often in the secondary. Week in and week out in this league, the pass coverage just won’t survive. Luckily for San Francisco, this was not one of those weeks. Still, it was that close. The Bears meandered down the field, with the help of penalties and soft coverage, and they got two shots from the 49ers’ 12-yard line to win it. But Cutler was picked off by Michael Lewis in the end zone on the final play of the game, setting off the tamest celebration imaginable. “Our defensive back coaches, Vance Joseph and Johnnie Lynn, did a great job of telling us that (TE Greg) Olsen is their go-to guy in the red zone and they like to take the vertical route,” Lewis said of the final play of the game. The 49ers sputtered from the start, managing just 99 yards of offense in the half. Nose guard Aubrayo Franklin bailed out the defense with a pick of Cutler on 3rd and goal at the 49ers one-yard line. As a result, the game remained scoreless until less than three minutes remained, when the 49ers got what would turn out to be a game-changing break. Tarell Brown’s interception and 51 yard return set the table for the 49ers offense at Chicago’s 14 yard-line. Gore scampered up the middle untouched for the score on the next play. In the final two minutes of the half, Chicago mounted an unusual drive of 10 plays, despite two delay of game penalties. Soft coverage again hurt the 49ers as the Bears managed a field goal to get within 7-3 at the half. But as much as the Bears moved the ball, they couldn’t score seven, at the end of the half and throughout the game. Gore led the 49ers offensively with 25 carries and 104 yards, and Willis paced the defense with eight tackles. After a much-needed ten day break the 49ers travel to Green Bay to face the Packers. |
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