Chicago spoils Levi’s debut
Bears rally in fourth to beat sloppy 49ers
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Jay Cutler passed for three fourth-quarter touchdowns after much of Chicago’s starting defense went down, and the Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers 28-20 Sunday night to spoil their regular-season Levi’s Stadium debut.
Cutler threw three TD passes to Brandon Marshall, two in the wild fourth quarter, as Chicago erased a 13-point deficit and quieted the sellout crowd. Cutler threw for two scores in a 27-second span early in the final period, aided by the gutsy play of a backup cornerback.
Kyle Fuller made two late interceptions for the depleted Chicago secondary, and the first set up the go-ahead score.
San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for “inappropriate language” following Fuller’s first big play. That gave the Bears first-and-goal on the 3, and Cutler threw a 3-yard TD pass to Martellus Bennett as the Bears went ahead 21-20.
Kaepernick threw three interceptions in all, lost a fumble and his cool, a far cry from his breakout start on the Monday night stage nearly two years ago in a rout of the Bears.
A sloppy game filled with 26 penalties – 16 by the Niners – and a crazy collapse overshadowed the fanfare of the regular-season debut for the sparkling $1.2 billion stadium under the lights of prime time.
Michael Crabtree caught a touchdown pass on his 27th birthday and Frank Gore ran for a score but also had his 54-yard TD burst negated by Anquan Boldin’s holding penalty.
| Chicago | 0 | 7 | 0 | 21 | — | 28 |
| San Francisco | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | — | 20 |
SF—Crabtree 3 pass from Kaepernick (Dawson kick)
SF—FG Dawson 27
SF—Gore 8 run (Dawson kick)
Chi—Marshall 17 pass from Cutler (Gould kick)
SF—FG Dawson 24
Chi—Marshall 5 pass from Cutler (Gould kick)
Chi—Bennett 3 pass from Cutler (Gould kick)
Chi—Marshall 3 pass from Cutler (Gould kick)
A—70,799.
| Chi | SF | |
| First downs | 19 | 19 |
| Total Net Yards | 216 | 361 |
| Rushes-yards | 17-46 | 27-129 |
| Passing | 170 | 232 |
| Punt Returns | 1-1 | 4-24 |
| Kickoff Returns | 1-21 | 3-57 |
| Interceptions Ret. | 3-39 | 0-0 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 23-34-0 | 21-34-3 |
| Sacked-Yards Lst | 1-6 | 4-16 |
| Punts | 6-39.7 | 1-54.0 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-0 | 2-1 |
| Penalties-Yards | 10-58 | 16-118 |
| Time of Poss. | 26:09 | 33:51 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Chicago, Cutler 5-25, Forte 12-21. San Francisco, Kaepernick 9-66, Gore 13-63, Hyde 4-0, Miller 1-0.
PASSING—Chicago, Cutler 23-34-0-176. San Francisco, Kaepernick 21-34-3-248.
RECEIVING—Chicago, Bennett 7-37, Marshall 5-48, Forte 5-15, Jeffery 3-47, Holmes 2-20, Rosario 1-9. San Francisco, Crabtree 7-82, Carrier 3-41, V.Davis 3-39, Boldin 2-34, S.Johnson 2-26, Gore 2-12, V.McDonald 1-9, Hyde 1-5.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.