Bears vs. 49ers: Generation Duel of the Quarterbacks

On Sunday, the third-place teams in the NFC North and the NFC West will meet in the game between the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers. Both teams are anything but in top form at the moment, which can make the encounter all the more exciting.

With four defeats each, both teams look a bit battered this season. To still have a realistic chance of making the play offs, both Bears and 49ers desperately need a win. This could be decided by the role of the quarterback, as is so often the case.

While for the Bears the still very young Justin Fields will start, the 49ers will send the experienced veteran Jimmy Garoppolo into the race. The 49ers quarterback seems to be almost at the end of his career, in contrast, Fields still has great potential that can be developed.

In this encounter, however, Garoppolo’s years of experience could be the deciding factor that can turn the game in the 49ers’ favour. For the Chicago Bears vs. San Francisco 49ers game, our prediction is therefore a narrow victory for the 49ers.

Chicago Bears – Statistics & current form

The Chicago Bears have the home advantage in this encounter, winning twice and losing once at home so far. However, the home game they lost was against the recently very dominant Green Bay Packers.

Basically, this speaks for a stronger Bears team at home. In the Chicago Bears – San Francisco 49ers game, however, our bet is against the Bears. On the one hand, the very clear defeat against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 3:38 will still be deep in the bones of the players, on the other hand, an important key player in the defence is missing.

With Mack, the defensive power is missing?

Khalil Mack, the Bear linebacker wearing back number 52, is one of the key defenders on the Chicago team with 19 tackles and 6 sacks. Now, due to a persistent foot injury, he will in all likelihood be out of next Sunday’s game. So the Bears are missing a regular on defence.

This will further diminish the already meagre defensive performance of the Bears. Against the Buccaneers, they failed to sack quarterback Tom Brady once or force an interception. If another player, Mack, who normally can put enough pressure on the opposing quarterback to provoke mistakes, is out, the Bears will almost certainly fall behind.

Will Fields be able to handle the pressure?

This is something the Bears’ rookie quarterback, Justin Fields, will need to avoid. Although he was considered a promising talent and was picked by the Bears in Round 1 of the draft, he hasn’t quite settled into the NFL yet. His two touchdowns scored so far are overshadowed by six interceptions thrown, three of them in the game against the Buccs.

His offensive linemen don’t seem to have the rookie’s back either. Fields has been sacked 26 times so far, no other quarterback has had that happen more often this season. So he seems to be put under massive pressure during the game. In the Chicago Bears – San Francisco 49ers game, our tip with odds of around 1.75 on bwin is that Justin Fields will throw more than 0.5 interceptions.

Key Players:
QB: Justin Fields
RB: Khalil Herbert
WR: Darnell Mooney
TE: Cole Kmet
LB: Roquan Smith

San Francisco 49ers – Statistics & current form

If you want to be on the safe side, you should bet on a 49ers win & handicap -4 in the Chicago Bears San Francisco 49ers game with odds of around 1.90 in the bet365 app. In our opinion, this is the most likely result.

However, the team from California does not seem to be in top form either. Against the Colts from Indianapolis, Jimmy Garoppolo threw two interceptions but only one touchdown. With George Kittle out due to a calf muscle injury, the 49ers legionnaire is missing an important starting position.

Will Garoppolo’s experience help?

The 49ers quarterback had his problems getting the leather to the man last game day, with only less than 60 percent of his passes thrown finding their target. In addition to the two interceptions he threw, he was also sacked twice. At least the problems in the passing game are partly due to the weather conditions in the game against the Colts, as it rained quite heavily that day.

However, no comparable weather is forecast for Sunday in Chicago. This should improve Garoppolo’s struggling passing situation considerably. His completion percentage is usually around 65 percent, and he should be able to reproduce this performance on Sunday. Deebo Samuels, meanwhile, is regarded as his most important playmaking station.

Defence as a decisive factor?

But the 49ers defence seems to be struggling at the moment. In the game against the Colts, they did not manage to recover the ball once by means of an interception. The hope of the defence is defensive end Nick Bosa, he has five sacks, 19 tackles and forced a fumble so far this season. With that, he accounts for almost half of his team’s total sacks.

We expect the Chicago Bears vs. San Francisco 49ers game to be won by the latter, and the odds are also in their favour.

Key Players:
QB: Jimmy Garoppolo
RB: Elijah Mitchell
WR: Deebo Samuel
WR: Mohammed Sanu Sr.
DE: Nick Bosa

Chicago Bears – San Francisco 49ers Head-to-head comparison / H2H record

The Bears and 49ers have met almost annually in the past – but the last time it happened was on 12/23/2018, at which point Jimmy Garoppolo was already quarterbacking the 49ers, so that experience could be the clincher in this matchup.

The game will likely be decided from the QB position, as it so often is. Garoppolo, who is almost 30 years old, will score points here because of his experience, while Fields still looks overmatched at times. In a direct comparison this season, the 49ers QB outperforms his opponent in all relevant criteria.

Chicago Bears – San Francisco 49ers Tip

Even though neither team is currently in contention for the Super Bowl, the 49ers appear to have the edge in this match-up.

Furthermore, the Bears should be more burdened by the lack of personnel than the 49ers.

For the game Chicago Bears – San Francisco 49ers our prediction is therefore a win for the 49ers with handicap -4.