Going into the season, the Chicago Bears were projected to be one of the worst teams in the league, and while the season is far from over, a Week 1 win is better than 50 percent of the league. Sunday morning in the Windy City was one to remember. Soldier Field was completely flooded, pouring rain all game. While the 49ers from San Francisco had never seen anything like it, the Bears were used to the conditions and thrived.

However this thriving team did not come alive until the second half, after an atrocious first half start. After the first half, sophomore Justin Fields had an abysmal performance, completing only three passes. Fields got sacked twice and had an early interception.  The rest of the offense couldn’t get much going either with running back David Montgomery getting a rushing high of three yards. The offense showed small signs of life with some bigger rushes by running back Khalil Herbert and  Fields along with a 16 yard pass completed to David Montgomery. Other than three plays, the Bears were looking bad on offense.

On the defensive side of things, only 7 points against at the half is pretty impressive. Trey Lance reminded viewers on Sunday that he had only started two games before, not playing against a legit team since high school by only completing 13 passes along with an interception and two sacks, giving him a QB rating of 50.3. The 49ers five different rushers couldn’t get much going either with two fumbles. Deebo Samuel, Juan Jennings, and Brandon Aiyuk broke off for some huge gains, with only one touchdown to show for.

The Bears defense was able to do their part in the first half, and now it was time for the offense to turn it on. Midway through the 3rd quarter, former Bear, Robbie Gould put one through the uprights for three points, the last points scored by the 49ers as they took a 10-0 lead. Around 10 minutes into the 3rd quarter, things looked grim when Fields had two 49ers lineman running right at him. However, Fields was able to stay composed and rolled out of the pocket while looking downfield. With time and room, he launched a 51 yard touchdown pass to a wide open Dante Pettis. Pettis waltzed into the end zone with a huge block by Equanimeous St. Brown. This moment opened up the game for the Bears to take.

The defense continued to shut down the 49ers, giving the ball back to the Bears in the 4th. Early on in the next drive Fields drew a 15 yard unnecessary roughness call against him, something commonly seen against young quarter back. This dangerous play saved the Bears on 3rd down, allowing the drive to continue. Darnell Mooney caught a screen pass out to the left, resulting in an 8 yard gain set up by another big St. Brown block. On third and short, the Bears lined up in a narrow formation, letting everyone in the entire stadium know that they would attempt to punch in a 2 yard run. This was when, the brilliance of new head coach Matt Eberflus was shown off. The Bears ran a play action, fooling the 49ers defense and again with plenty of time and space Fields threw a dime to St. Brown for an 18 yard touchdown, just his second of all time.

Later in the 4th Eddie Jackson intercepted Trey Lance, putting the bears in a scoring position. Khalil Herbert was then able to punch it in for a touchdown, sealing the game. While Cairo Santos missed two extra points, 19 points was enough to get the first win of the season.

The well coached Bears finished the game with only 3 penalties while the 49ers had 12, totaling 99 yards.

Top performers for the offense included Equanimeous Tristan Imhotep J. St. Brown with a touchdown and 2 key blocks along with Justin Fields recording 2 touchdowns and 28 rushing yards. Sophomore guard Teven Jenkins also impressed, ranking 8th among all guards, only allowing 1 qb pressure. On the defensive side, top players included Roquan smith with 9 tackles, Eddie Jackson with an interception, and player of the game, rookie, 5th round pick, Miami U alum, Dominique Robinson with 7 tackles and 1.5 sacks for -8 yards. Robinson was originally recruited to Miami as a quarterback, but the coach switched the athlete to defensive end, where he was able to dominate.