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Fearless Prediction: Bears (4-4) at 49ers (3-5)
by Sports Xchange
Game Snapshot
KICKOFF: Thursday, 8:20. p.m ET
SURFACE: Grass
TV: NFL Network (Bob Papa, Matt Millen)
SERIES: 58th meeting. Bears lead 29-27-1 in the regular season. They've won the past three meetings and four of the last five, although all of the victories were at Soldier Field. The Niners have won all three postseason meetings.
KEYS TO THE GAME: Both teams entered the season with run-first offenses. Due to poor run blocking, Bears QB Jay Cutler has had to shoulder too much of the offensive load. That won't change this weekend with the 49ers far stronger defending the run (93.2 yards per game) with LB Patrick Willis leading the way than the pass (241) minus injured CB Nate Clements and spotty safety play. San Francisco is having its own offensive line issues, and the switch to QB Alex Smith and arrival of WR Michael Crabtree has transformed the offense into a far more vertical attack. Smith has proven to still be turnover prone and with the Bears allowing 4.2 yards per carry, 49ers offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye needs to put more emphasis on RB Frank Gore.
FAST FACTS: Smith has lost his last seven starts. ... This is the first time since 1994 the Bears have allowed 40 or more points twice in the same season.
Personnel News
Bears:
- Al Afalava (shoulder) and Kevin Payne (back) are the only two strong safeties listed on the Bears' depth chart, but cornerback Charles Tillman says the secondary will be fine, even if those two can't play.
INSIDE THE BEARS 
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"You all never heard of Josh Bullocks?" Tillman said. "The dude is a beast. You're all going to see on Sunday ... ehh, sorry, Thursday."
Bullocks, a five-year veteran who started 49 games for the Saints in his first four seasons, is listed as the backup free safety behind Danieal Manning.
"We have a few guys down, but this time of the year it's normally like that," coach Lovie Smith said. "We have some other options still. We'll see how it goes, how the guys feel (Wednesday)."
- Backup running back Garrett Wolfe will not play Thursday with what the Bears have said is a back injury, but which is believed to be a lacerated kidney that left him hospitalized after Sunday's game. He could miss two to four weeks.
Without Wolfe, who is also one of the Bears' top special teams players, Adrian Peterson would be the only backup behind Matt Forte. When Peterson missed two games earlier in the season with a sprained knee, the Bears went with Wolfe as the only backup.
"We've done it before," coach Lovie Smith said. "That's an option for us. Right now we don't know exactly how long Garrett will be out. We've gone with two running backs before, and if we have to do that, we will."
The Chiefs on Monday released troubled running back Larry Johnson, who rushed for 3,539 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2005 and '06 but averaged just 2.7 yards per carry this season and turns 30 on Nov. 19.
"Any player that's available, we look at," Smith said. "That's been our standard policy throughout. That's kind of a low priority right now."
- WR Devin Hester has 27 catches for 359 yards in the past four games with at least six catches and 81 yards each week. He's on pace for 82 catches and 1,096 yards for the season.
- WR Earl Bennett, who did not catch a pass last season as a rookie, has 17 catches for 227 yards in the past four games, and he's on pace for a 64-catch, 854-yard season.
- TE Greg Olsen has six TD catches in the past six games.
- CB Charles Tillman (shoulder) was limited at Tuesday's practice but is expected to start Thursday.
- S Josh Bullocks will start at strong safety if both Al Afalava and Kevin Payne, who are Nos. 1 and 2 on the depth chart, do not play.
49ers:
- Receiver Jason Hill, inactive for five of the 49ers' first seven games of the season, took advantage of his opportunity Sunday when he replaced struggling veteran Isaac Bruce.
INSIDE THE 49ERS 
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Hill took over for Bruce as the 49ers' No. 3 receiver near the end of the first half. He caught four passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns. Hill simply had gotten few chances to show his stuff before getting called upon against the Titans.
"My focus hasn't changed, but it's been hard on my patience," Hill said Tuesday. "It's about being a professional and knowing it's bigger than just here. It's about other teams and what they're going to look at when I'm on film."
- Quarterback Alex Smith threw three interceptions, two of which came on passes that were deflected. Only one of the picks came as a result of holding the ball too long, he said.
"The one on the boundary could have gone up," Smith said of a first-half pass intended for Michael Crabtree. "That half-second maybe allowed that safety to come over and make a play that allowed that ball to stay inbounds. The other two didn't feel like I was late at all. But the first one I could say, critically looking at it, I could have gone up quicker."
- Cornerback Tarell Brown is expected to be a fixture in the 49ers' starting lineup for years after his promotion corresponded with the demotion of veteran cornerback Nate Clements against the Colts on Nov. 1.
Brown had just signed a contract extension that awarded him a $2.5 million signing bonus and locked him up through the 2013 season.
"I feel it's my job," Brown said. "Coaches gave me the nod. I want to go out there and produce. Everything else will take care of itself. I've got good players around me. I just have to stay consistent. Any time you get an opportunity to step on the field, you have to make the most of it. For me, this is my opportunity, and I have to seize the moment."
- When rookie defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois misread his itinerary coming back from the bye week and missed the 49ers' first scheduled practice, he knew he was going to have to pay for it. Coach Mike Singletary made Jean-Francois run and run and run and run.
Now, Jean-Francois said he is in tip-top condition, with the help of the discipline.
"I did some running," Jean-Francois said. "Let's just say I'm in shape for a long game. If we have a long game, I'll be good to go."
- TE Vernon Davis leads the NFC among tight ends with 477 receiving yards. Dallas' Jason Witten is the only NFC tight end with more catches than Davis, who has 42 receptions and seven touchdowns.
- RB Michael Robinson will be the 49ers' backup at fullback and halfback, as well as an extra tight end. Robinson will be Frank Gore's primary backup after rookie Glen Coffee has been ruled out of Thursday's game with a concussion.
- WR Isaac Bruce does not appear on the 49ers' injury report, but the club says Jason Hill replaced him as the No. 3 wideout because Bruce rolled his ankle late in the first half against the Titans.
- DL Ricky Jean-Francois, a seventh-round pick, suited up for the first time last week against the Titans but did not get into the game. He is expected to be active again Thursday because veteran Demetric Evans is out another two games with a shoulder injury.
- C Cody Wallace, a fourth-round pick in the 2008 draft, has been inactive for all 24 games of his NFL career and does not figure to suit up for a game as long as starting C Eric Heitmann is available.
Inside the Camps
NFL Week 11
Week 11 action (all times ET)
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MIA 24, CAR 17 -- Recap | Box
IND 17, BAL 15 -- Recap | Box
DAL 7, WSH 6 -- Recap | Box
GB 30, SF 24 -- Recap | Box
MIN 35, SEA 9 -- Recap | Box
NYG 34, ATL 31 (OT) -- Recap | Box
NO 38, TB 7 -- Recap | Box
JAX 18, BUF 15 -- Recap | Box
KC 27, PIT 24 (OT) -- Recap | Box
DET 38, CLE 37 -- Recap | Box
ARZ 21, STL 13 -- Recap | Box
SD 32, DEN 3 -- Recap | Box
NE 31, NYJ 14 -- Recap | Box
OAK 20, CIN 17 -- Recap | Box
PHI 24, CHI 20 -- Recap | Box
TEN-HOU, 8:30 p.m. (Mon.) -- Preview
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HELP THE TROOPS: |
Bears: The best way -- maybe the only way -- for the Bears to avoid the embarrassment of the past two losses is for the defensive line to step up.
While giving up a combined 86 points and 886 yards in losses to the Bengals and Cardinals, the Bears had a total of one sack on 77 drop-backs. The Chicago defense also was trampled for 397 rushing yards and 5.4 yards per run.
That's the kind of combination that results in double-digit losses and mass firings. To turn it around, the defensive line needs to play as it did in the first four weeks, when it was instrumental in getting 14 sacks and pacing a 3-1 start. Since then, the 4-4 Bears have had two sacks and one win in four games. Thursday night in San Francisco, on national TV against the 3-5 49ers, the Bears need a team revival. And a lot of individuals need to redeem themselves for the past four weeks.
"I think I do," said defensive left end Adewale Ogunleye, who had 4.5 sacks in the first four games but none in the last four. "I'm just going to speak for myself and the defensive line. I think we need to step it up a little bit better, a lot better to help this team out. For us to get to where we want to go, we've got to play a lot better on the defensive line."
It would seem they couldn't play much worse. With the exception of defensive right end Alex Brown, who has the Bears' only two sacks in the past 38 days, no members of the veteran defensive line have made much of an impact. Against the Bengals, the Bears defense allowed scores on the first seven possessions. Against the Cardinals, it was the first six.
"We got embarrassed, and it's not a good feeling," nose tackle Anthony Adams said. "So anytime something like that happens, you always want to go back on the field and correct your wrong. I always say the best medicine is just to be out there on the field. We get a chance to go back out there on the field and show back up on Thursday."
49ers: The 49ers have gotten away from coach Mike Singletary's mantra.
Singletary uttered the words that would be used as part of the 49ers' marketing campaign: "Don't tell me. Show me."
But while the 49ers insist that they're going to be a playoff team, they have done little to show it on the field. They take a four-game losing streak into Thursday's game against the Bears at Candlestick Park.
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| A Hall-of-Fame legend for his laser-eyed focus as a Bears player, Mike Singletary must get his 49ers focused on turning around their season. (Bob Levey / Getty Images) |
Singletary has repeatedly said that the 49ers are going to be "special" this season. He has repeatedly said his team will be in the playoffs.
Even during the team's current four-game losing streak, Singletary said it's working out for the best that 49ers are now going through this stretch of five losses in six games because it will make the club stronger when it bounces back.
"When it does swing around, we'll be enjoying it a lot more, and it'll be much more of a richness to it going forward and an appreciation for it because it doesn't come easy," Singletary said.
"I feel good about these next eight games. I feel good about the situation we're in, and I feel good about our guys having to work through some things, as well as our coaches, to climb back up again and get ready for that next one and let's go."
Singletary said he feels no special emotions that his team will be facing the Bears. Singletary played all 12 seasons of his Hall of Fame career as a Bears linebacker.
When Singletary decided after 10 years away from the game that he wanted to enter the coaching ranks, the first call he made was to then-Bears coach Dick Jauron.
"I told Dick Jauron exactly this, I said, 'Coach, my wife and I prayed about it, we've decided that we're going to be coaching. I'm not asking you for a job, but I am telling you that this year, in the very near future, I will be coaching. I don't know where, don't know when,'" Singletary said.
Jauron called Singletary back some time later to tell him the Bears were not interested in employing the Hall of Fame linebacker as an assistant coach, Singletary said.
"He just let me know that I'm not supposed to be there," Singletary said. "So that was it."
Singletary entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2003 as an assistant on Brian Billick's staff with the Ravens.
Singletary is highly regarded for his no-nonsense approach. He generally stresses actions over words.
But 49ers tight end Vernon Davis took the rhetoric up a couple notches when he said -- after watching film of the Bears defense -- that the 49ers should be able to manhandle their upcoming opponent.
"I think we can destroy their front," said Davis, who is tied for the NFL lead with seven touchdown receptions. "The guys up front, I think we can destroy them. I don't see anything spectacular about their front line.
"Their linebackers, I think we can handle them pretty well. I like (Adewale) Ogunleye. I like the way he's playing up front. He's about the only player I like on their defensive line. I think he's doing a good job."
Davis later gave some credit to four-time Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs, but he stood by his words that the 49ers should be able to easily handle the Bears, who enter the game with a 4-4 record and the league's 15th-ranked defense.
The 49ers have not "destroyed" any opposing defense this season. The club ranks 27th in the NFL in total offense.
But the club is coming off a good offensive showing against the Titans.
The only problem was quarterback Alex Smith's four turnovers. He threw three interceptions, two of which came on tipped passes, and lost a fumble.
But offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye said there was also a lot to like. The 49ers put together two-minute drills at the end of both halves that resulted in touchdowns. The 49ers were down 14 points late in the game when they drove for a touchdown to set up an onside kick in the final minute that the Titans recovered.
"We were 5-for-5 in the red zone, three touchdowns and two field goals. We had a 19-play drive in that game that overcame three or four penalties and a negative that went down and got points," Raye said. "I thought our 'me-to-you' factor was very good. ... We threw the ball. Alex completed 29 balls."
PREDICTION: 49ers 23-20
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