It took only seven minutes for seven months of optimism built during the off-season to evaporate.
Make that 7 minutes 34 seconds, to be exact.
That was the amount of time remaining in the second quarter Sunday at 3Com Park when the 49ers’ 49-7 bombardment of the Bears began in earnest.
“It just snowballed,” Bears coach Dick Jauron said. “I’ve been through days like this before. It happens, and all you can do is regroup, bury this game and learn from our mistakes and move forward.”
The anatomy of the Bears’ collapse can be dissected in five plays.
Play No. 1
What happened: Bears rookie Bobby Wade fumbled a punt return on the 7-yard line and San Francisco’s Jimmy Williams recovered at the 6. Three plays later, 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia scored on a quarterback draw to make it 17-7.
What went wrong: Even a rookie punt-return man like Wade should know to put his heels on the 10-yard line and take his chances that anything over his head will be a touchback. That was his first mistake. The second involved a simple matter of ball control that can be attributed partly to Williams’ hit and partly to inexperience. Of course, if Dez White had done a better job of blocking Williams downfield, Wade might have had more time to regain his grip on the football.
Play No. 2
What happened: Former Illini wide receiver Brandon Lloyd blocked Brad Maynard’s punt on the next series, with 4:19 left. Terry Jackson recovered at the Bears’ 19 and returned to the 18. Three plays later, Garcia hit Chicago native Tai Streets with a 16-yard TD pass and it was 23-7.
What went wrong: Lloyd made an outside fake that upback Cameron Worrell fell for and opened a lane to Maynard. Adrian Peterson replaced Worrell on the next punt.
Play No. 3
What happened: With 55 seconds left in the first half, Kordell Stewart threw a pass intended for David Terrell that 49ers cornerback Ahmed Plummer intercepted and returned 68 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 30-7. It was the first of Plummer’s two interceptions.
What went wrong: Running back Rabih Abdullah missed a block that increased the pressure on Stewart, but it was simply a bad throw. All Plummer had to do was step in front of Terrell and catch a ball that might have shown up on the nearby San Francisco airport’s radar if it had hung in the air much longer.
Play No. 4
What happened: Three plays and 30 seconds later, Stewart threw another pick intended for White that Williams intercepted. Williams returned the ball 6 yards to give the 49ers the ball at the Bears’ 37 with 18 seconds left.
What went wrong: Pressured less than on the previous interception, Stewart just threw another bad pass. At that point in the game, after all the calamity that already had occurred, the Bears would have been better off taking a knee for the purpose of running out the clock. Or for prayer.
Play No. 5
What happened: Working on Bears rookie cornerback Charles Tillman, Terrell Owens got loose and Garcia found him for a 26-yard completion that moved the ball to the Bears’ 11 with four seconds left.
What went wrong: The lapse can be understood given the pressure on the defense created by all the offensive and special-teams mistakes, but it can’t be accepted by the Bears. They had 18 seconds to make a play and force the 49ers into trying a long field goal. But instead they let Owens find a seam in a pass defense too passive for the situation. Instead, a 29-yard field goal by Jeff Chandler as time expired in the first half sent the 49ers running into the locker room thinking what turned out to be true: Sunday, the Bears were no match.
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Worst Bears losses
Sunday’s loss was the worst Bears loss in a season opener and tied for fourth-worst in franchise history:
YR SCORE TEAM REC.
1964 52-0 at Baltimore 5-9
1962 49-0 at Green Bay 9-5
1977 47-0 at Houston 9-5
2003 49-7 at San Francisco TBD
1974 42-0 at Washington 4-10
1968 42-0 at Detroit 7-7
1960 42-0 at Cleveland 8-6
Source: Bears
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