49ers Outduel Bears

Maybe Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers can outscore everyone on the way to the Super Bowl.

The 49ers are scoring at will lately. Purdy is playing as well as any quarterback in the NFL. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan is the hottest play-caller in the league. The defense … well, the defense might be a problem in the playoffs, but San Francisco’s offense looks unstoppable.

The 49ers gave up 38 points Sunday night and still won a wildly entertaining and crucial game against the Chicago Bears. Purdy accounted for five touchdowns, including a 38-yard score to Jauan Jennings with 2:15 remaining to give the 49ers the lead. Caleb Williams, who had a big game, drove the Bears downfield and had the Bears on the 2-yard line with four seconds to go. The 49ers forced an incompletion on the final play to hang on to a 42-38 win.

The 49ers will host the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night with the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line.

The highlight of the night for Purdy came in the third quarter, when he avoided the pass rush as he rolled left, split two defensive linemen to step up and tossed it to Kyle Juszczyk for the touchdown. Purdy has been on fire the past few weeks and he was fantastic Sunday night. The 49ers didn’t have tight end George Kittle, who was out with injury, and they lost offensive tackle Trent Williams on the first play of the game with a hamstring injury. It didn’t matter because Purdy and Christian McCaffrey, who had 181 total yards, were dominant.

With the win, the 49ers set up a huge home game for Week 18. Since Super Bowl LX will be in Santa Clara, a win next weekend means the 49ers will not play another road game this season.

The first half was one of the most eventful of the season.

It started with Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards picking off Purdy on the first play of the game and returning it 34 yards for a touchdown. Unfortunately for Chicago, that was one of the few things its defense did right in the first half.

Purdy had a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown by the end of the first quarter. Williams had a 35-yard touchdown pass to Luther Burden III in the first quarter. It was the first NFL game this season in which both teams scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, NBC said on its broadcast.

Neither offense was done. Williams had a 36-yard touchdown pass to Colston Loveland. McCaffrey scored on a touchdown run, and then Purdy had another rushing touchdown. There were 49 points in the first half alone.

Last week, the 49ers scored on seven of their first eight drives against the Indianapolis Colts, and the other drive was a missed field goal. The game before that against Tennessee, San Francisco scored on seven of eight drives, with a fumble ruining a shot at a perfect game. The Bears did force one punt in the first half, and it was San Francisco’s first punt since Nov. 30. Their offense has been on a tear, and it continued against Chicago.

The points kept coming in the second half. The game was tied 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, 28-28 and 35-35. It’s the first time in NFL history that has happened. Both offenses were putting on a great show, but both defenses looked like a potential roadblock to making a playoff run.

The 49ers finally got stopped in the second half. They had a fourth-and-7 on the Bears’ 43-yard line in a tie game. Shanahan could have gone for it, but he punted. The trust in his defense was misplaced. The Bears drove downfield, but the 49ers held the Bears to a field goal. Chicago led 38-35 with 5:22 left.

The way the 49ers’ offense had moved the ball most of the night, getting at least a field goal to tie the game seemed inevitable. Purdy hit Jennings on a crossing route and Jennings took it the rest of the way for a 38-yard score. It was Purdy’s fifth touchdown of the night, with three passing and two rushing. The only problem seemed to be that the 49ers’ defense had to hold for 2:15 to win the game.

The Bears got into 49ers territory with more than a minute to play. Williams hit Burden for a huge 14-yard gain on third-and-10 to keep the drive going. The Bears then faced a fourth-and-5 with 33 seconds left and Williams hit Loveland for the first down. A hook-and-ladder play got the Bears to the 2-yard line, giving them just one more play after spiking the ball. Williams couldn’t find anyone open as he scrambled around and threw incomplete into the end zone.

The 49ers know their defense will have to get some stops to win a championship. But their offense is no question at all.