Having clinched the NFC North title Saturday night with the Packers' loss to the Ravens, the Bears will battle for playoff position Sunday night when they visit the 49ers at Levi's Stadium.
The Bears (11-4) will either be the No. 1, 2 or 3 seed in the NFC playoffs. They are currently second behind Seattle (13-3), which defeated Carolina 27-10 Sunday. They can earn the No. 1 seed by winning their final two games coupled with a 49ers victory over the Seahawks in Week 18.
The Eagles (11-5) have won the NFC East and are currently the No. 3 seed. The Bears can clinch at least the No. 2 seed Sunday night with a win over the 49ers. The Bears own the tiebreaker over the Eagles by virtue of their 24-15 win on Nov. 28.
The Bears have won seven of their last eight games and are 11-2 since an 0-2 start. The 49ers have won five in a row, all by double digits. They have averaged 34.4 points in those games and have not punted on their last 21 possessions.
When the Bears have the ball
Caleb Williams quarterbacks a Bears offense that ranks in the top 10 in the NFL in scoring (10th at 25.8 points per game) and total yards (5th at 371.5) after finishing in the bottom five in both categories last season.
Williams has thrown for 3,400 yards with 23 touchdowns, six interceptions and an 89.5 passer rating. He has also rushed for 369 yards and 3 TDs on 71 carries and reduced the number of sacks he has taken from 68 last season to 23 this year.
The Bears boast a running game that has averaged 169.7 yards since their Week 5 bye, tops in the NFL. They are the league's only team with two players who have both run for at least 700 yards in D'Andre Swift (993) and Kyle Monangai (731).
The offense will be without receiver Rome Odunze, who will miss his fourth straight game with a foot injury. But rookie receiver Luther Burden III is expected to return after sitting out last Saturday's night win over the Packers with an ankle injury.
A vastly improved Bears offensive line is led by two players who were voted to the Pro Bowl Games in left guard Joe Thuney and center Drew Dalman, both of whom were acquired during the offseason as part of a plan to fortify the interior line.
The 49ers defense ranks 12th in the NFL in points allowed per game (21.3) and 18th in total yards, eighth against the run and 23rd versus the pass. Two perennial Pro Bowlers in end Nick Bosa (knee) and linebacker Fred Warner (ankle) have missed most of the season with injuries and remain sidelined.
Linebackers Dee Winters and Tatum Bethune, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir and safeties Malik Mustapha and Ji'Ayir Brown have picked up the slack. Winters returned a Philip Rivers interception 74 yards for a TD last Monday night in San Francisco's 48-27 win over the Colts in Indianapolis.
The 49ers defense has recorded the fewest sacks (18) in the NFL and is tied for the second-fewest interceptions (6). But the unit has generated nine takeaways in its last five games after forcing only seven turnovers in its first 10 contests.
Key matchup: Bears WR DJ Moore vs. 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir
With Odunze and Burden injured, Moore has stepped up to fill the void, catching four passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Browns and five passes for 97 yards, including a walk-off 46-yard TD in overtime versus the Packers. Moore will be challenged by Lenoir, a fifth-year pro who has emerged as a shutdown corner.
When the 49ers have the ball
San Francisco's offense has been red hot of late. Since their Week 14 bye, the 49ers have scored 85 points in back-to-back wins over the Titans and Colts while becoming the first NFL team to not punt in back-to-back games since at least 1950.
The unit is led by four Pro Bowlers in quarterback Brock Purdy, running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle and fullback Kyle Juszczyk.
Purdy is the reigning NFC offensive player of the week after throwing a career-high five touchdown passes last Monday night in Indianapolis. It was the most TD passes by a 49ers quarterback since Hall of Famer Steve Young had six in San Francisco's 49-26 win over the Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX Jan. 29, 1995.
Purdy will make his sixth straight start Sunday night after missing the previous six games and eight overall with a toe injury. He has thrown for exactly 295 yards in each of his last two outings with eight total TDs, one interception and a 136.1 passer rating.
McCaffrey leads the NFL with 372 touches this season, 43 more than any other player. He tops the league with 108 first downs, is second with 1,888 yards from scrimmage and is third with 16 TDs. He has rushed for 1,039 yards and nine TDs on 280 carries and leads all running backs with 92 receptions for 849 yards and seven TDs.
Kittle is second on the 49ers with 52 catches for 599 yards and seven TDs after amassing a season-high 115 yards against the Colts. He is listed as questionable and is expected to be a game-time decision due to an ankle injury he suffered in Indianapolis.
Receiver Jauan Jennings leads the 49ers with eight TD receptions, including at least one in each of the last four games.
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan is the architect of San Francisco's potent offense.
"Shanahan is one of the best, if not the best, in the business in terms of doing this, calling plays at a high level for as long as he has," said Bears coach Ben Johnson. "He's probably the first to truly marry that run game and pass game as well as you see some of these other teams doing it now, he was kind of the front-runner on all that stuff. You always like to turn on that San Francisco tape each week, whether you're playing them or not, just to look at some of the stuff that they're doing. And it's changed a little bit. It used to be where they were always the No. 1 team in the NFL in terms of rushing, and it's not to say they don't still have that ability — they do — but it's kind of morphed a little bit. They might be a more dangerous passing team right now. That's kind of the interesting thing."
The Bears counter with a defense that leads the NFL with 31 takeaways and 21 interceptions. This season they are 9-0 when they generate multiple turnovers and 2-4 when they create one or none. One of those wins came last Saturday night when they produced one takeaway versus the Packers.
Kevin Byard III leads the NFL with six interceptions and Nahshon Wright tops the league with eight takeaways; he's tied for first with three fumble recoveries and tied for second with five interceptions. Wright (hamstring/illness), however, is among four defenders who are questionable for Sunday night's game. The others are linebacker T.J. Edwards (glute) and defensive backs C.J. Gardner-Johnson (knee) and Josh Blackwell (illness).
Key matchup: Bears defensive end Montez Sweat vs. 49ers right tackle Colton McKivitz
With a team-leading 9.5 sacks, Sweat is closing in on the second double-digit sack season of his career. He has recorded 8.5 sacks in his last 10 games and will spearhead a pass rush against Purdy and a potent 49ers offense. Sweat will be opposed by McKivitz, a sixth-year pro who has started all 49 games the past three seasons.
Fun facts
- The Bears have won six games this season in which they trailed in the final two minutes of regulation, the most by any team since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970.
- Williams has passed for at least 240 yards and two TDs with no interceptions in back-to-back games the past two weeks for the first time this season. He has also thrown multiple TD passes in three straight contests for the first time this year.
- The Bears have generated a takeaway in eight straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL.
- The Bears have not allowed a score on their opponents' first possession in four straight games and in 13 of 15 contests this season. The 10 points they've permitted on opening drives this year are the fewest in the NFL.
- The Bears and 49ers have alternated winning their last nine meetings with the Bears winning in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022 and losing in 2012, 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2024.
