CHICAGO — Following his staff’s disappointing 19-10 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance stepped to the rostrum ready to shoulder the blame.
The primary question had barely been lobbed his means earlier than Lance instantly started rattling off all of his errors within the defeat. The record: overthrowing wide-open tight finish Tyler Kroft for a would-be landing, an interception to Bears security Eddie Jackson, taking a sack that knocked the Niners out of area objective vary and missed third-down throws to receivers Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings.
“Simply too many errors on the sphere,” Lance stated. “I’m simply annoyed with myself just a little bit. I simply really feel like I am rather a lot higher than that.”
Lance completed 13-of-28 for 164 yards with no landing passes and an interception for a passer ranking of fifty.3. He additionally ran for staff highs in carries (13) and dashing yards (54). The Bears had been content material to drive Lance to beat them from the pocket, as they did not blitz him as soon as in his 34 dropbacks. He is solely the seventh quarterback prior to now 15 seasons to drop again 30-plus instances and never face a blitz. Quarterbacks in such eventualities are 1-6, based on ESPN Stats & Data analysis.
After all, the Niners entered this season understanding Lance would have his share of rising pains, but it surely was additionally onerous to guage him (or anybody else) a lot on a day when the rain by no means stopped and the taking part in situations had been extra akin to a Slip ‘N Slide than a soccer area.
“Completely not,” proper deal with Mike McGlinchey stated. “Not in these situations. I’d by no means maintain any of that towards him. However as for our efficiency as a staff, the sport should not have been in that place within the first place.”
That was a sentiment shared all through the Niners’ locker room after coughing up a 10-0 lead in a recreation they appeared to have beneath management. For a lot of the first three quarters, it appeared as if the Niners had been going to dispatch the Bears with relative ease. However with each alternative the 49ers’ offense needed to lengthen the lead, they made a pricey mistake within the type of a penalty, a turnover or a mixture of the 2. Whereas the offense was failing to capitalize on these possibilities, the protection saved making the kind of miscues that allowed the Bears to hold round.
San Francisco completed with 12 penalties for 99 yards and two turnovers whereas going 1-for-3 within the crimson zone. Chicago had three penalties for twenty-four yards and one turnover whereas scoring touchdowns on each of its crimson zone journeys. The Niners’ errors had been unfold nearly equally, with 4 penalties on offense, six on protection and two on particular groups.
The timing of a few of these infractions was equally pricey. The Niners had three defensive penalties on third down for 45 yards, all three leading to a Bears first down. Two of these saved the Bears’ first two scoring drives alive.
“It is onerous sufficient to play towards the opposing staff,” left deal with Trent Williams stated. “It’s even tougher if you play towards your self. I’ve been taking part in soccer a very long time. Any recreation that I may keep in mind the place we had near 100 yards in penalties, we had two turnovers, particularly one in scoring vary within the crimson zone, it typically by no means seems that effectively.”
Now, the Niners should determine learn how to repair their many points earlier than Week 2 towards the Seattle Seahawks. Opening video games towards the Bears and Seahawks had been purported to be a comparatively mild introduction for Lance because the starter, however Sunday supplied a reminder that there is not any such factor as a certain factor within the NFL.
In idea, the 49ers ought to be capable to repair lots of their penalty woes. In any case, lots of them — similar to linebacker Dre Greenlaw‘s 15-yard face masks flag — had been the results of a foul determination and never a 50/50 name left within the palms of the officers.
That is no assure, on condition that pricey penalties have been a persistent drawback for the Niners lately. In 2021, the 49ers had the third-most penalty yards within the league (1,066), they usually have the Eleventh-most penalties (539) within the league since coach Kyle Shanahan took over in 2017.
However with Lance studying from his errors on the fly, the 49ers cannot afford to make issues tougher on themselves, or a promising season may slip away as rapidly as Sunday’s recreation did.
“It is powerful to win if you do this stuff,” Shanahan stated. “We at all times speak about doing proper longer. I believe right now was the precise reverse of that.”
