49ers vs. Bears recap: Trey Lance falters in 2022 opener

Heading into the 2022 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers made it clear that in just his second year in the league Trey Lance is their starting quarterback.

He didn’t exactly make that choice look good Week 1 in Chicago on Sunday, with the Bears beating SF, 19-10.

The playing conditions were challenging. Heavy rain moved through the Chicago area before the game, prompting flooding in the city and turning the field into a bog with sitting water on the field seen during pregame warmups.

Not exactly high-octane offense weather.

49ers QB Trey Lance faltered vs the Bears in Week 1

Neither quarterback handled the conditions all that well, but Chicago starter Justin Field managed to turn things around in the second half, tossing a majority of his 121 yards then, including two touchdown passes. He threw one interception.

He added 28 yards on 11 carries.

Lance finished the game 13-for-28 for 164 yards passing. He threw one interception and no TDs.

That resulted in a lowly 50.3 passer rating, the second-lowest by a 49ers starting QB in an opener since 2000 (per Josh Dubow). Jimmy Garoppolo in 2018 was the only lower, with 45.1.

On the ground, Lance racked up 54 yards on 13 carries.

The offensive line did him no favors either.

The game was all but decided in a pair of series in the fourth quarter.

Down by a field goal at the time, Lance threw a costly interception with about 10 minutes remaining in the game. Bears safety Eric Jackson made the pick at midfield and returned it all the way to the 49ers’ 21-yard-line.

Five plays later the Bears punched it in for a 19-10 lead.

San Francisco never made it back into Chicago territory after that, turning the ball over on downs on their own 46-yard-line in one possession and 21-yard-line on the other.

Deebo Samuel accounted for the 49ers’ only touchdown, leading to a 7-0 first-half lead. He finished with 52 yards rushing. He added 14 receiving, though that came on just two receptions out of eight targets.

Starting RB Elijah Mitchell exited in the first half with a knee injury. He had six carries for 41 yards at the time.

Jauan Jennings led the 49ers’ receiving effort with 62 yards on two receptions.

While Lance certainly deserves some of the blame for the result, he had a fair amount of, er, help.

49ers set themselves up to fail with too many penalties vs. Bears

Penalties were definitely a factor in the outcome as well, with SF drawing 12 flags for 99 yards while the Bears were flagged just three times for 24.

So, Week 1. Sloppy conditions. Sloppy offensive line play. Sloppy play.

Not great all around.

Hard to judge Lance too much based on Week 1 alone, but certainly the 49ers and their fans had to have higher expectations against the lowly Chicago Bears than what was delivered.

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