Chicago hosted the 1-10 San Francisco 49ers in week thirteen, the fourth straight year in which the two teams met and the third at Soldier Field and in December, with the Bears winning 2016's game 26-6. Offensively, the Bears rushing game had an opportune chance to succeed against a 49ers defense that was ranked 30th against the run (28th overall with 374.2 total yards allowed per game), allowing 129.5 rushing yards per game, 42 runs of at least ten yards in 2017 and three running backs to record 100-yard games. For the 49ers offense, it was led by Jimmy Garoppolo in his first start for the team, and Garoppolo was supported by a West Coast offense that ranked 12th in yards after the catch. Although the 49ers were ranked last in the league in time of possession, they were tied for the most drives of ten plays or more with 22, with 19 resulting in scores (including eight ending in touchdowns). In contrast, the Bears offense's 140 points were the fewest in the NFL, while also having a league-high 40 drives end with punts. As such, Jeff Joniak stressed the importance of playing "loose" by letting "it rip in every phase." With San Francisco's optimism in Garoppolo, the Bears had "to ruin that excitement and create some of its own." Former Bears kicker Robbie Gould opened the game by converting a 33-yard field goal. While the Bears punted on their first drive, Kyle Fuller recorded his first interception since 2015 when he yanked the ball from Louis Murphy's hands, which set up Mitchell Trubisky's eight-yard touchdown pass to Dontrelle Inman. Gould added a 28-yard field goal in the second quarter to narrow the gap to one point, but Tarik Cohen responded with a 61-yard punt return touchdown; after catching the punt at his 39-yard line, Cohen ran back to his 24, moved to his right, then ran forward for the touchdown. With 24 seconds left in the first half, Gould kicked his third field goal (35 yards), followed by one from 34 yards in the third quarter to put the 49ers ehind by two. Early in the fourth quarter, Cohen returned a punt for 67 yards to the 49ers' 16-yard line, but Ben Braunecker was penalized for an illegal block in the back to negate the play and force the Bears to start at their own 14. Although the offense was able to reach 49ers territory, it could not progress further and the Bears eventually punted. Pinned at his eight with 5:27 remaining in the game, Garoppolo led the 49ers downfield to set up Gould's game-winning 24-yard field goal with four seconds left. On the final kickoff, Josh Bellamy handed the ball to Cohen, who threw to Eddie Jackson before the play was stopped as Cohen's lateral was a forward pass. The loss dropped the Bears to 3-9, their fourth straight losing season and worst stretch since they had five consecutive from 1996 to 2000. It was also the Bears' fifth straight loss, the first such losing streak since Marc Trestman's final season as the Bears head coach in 2014.
Who opened the game, converting a 33-yard field goal?
Gould