National Football League

After late collapse in Levi's Stadium opener, 49ers left looking lost

Published Sep. 15, 2014 8:00 a.m. ET

Erik Malinowski

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Give the 49ers credit: For as disjointed and uncoordinated as they seemed during Sunday night's home opener — in which they formally christened their $1.2 billion Levi's Stadium by allowing three fourth-quarter touchdowns to the Chicago Bears before succumbing, 28-20, in front of a primetime national TV audience — they were remarkably on message after the game.

Linebacker Patrick Willis: "We all had a fingerprint on that game, and we win as a team and we lose as a team."

Fullback Bruce Miller: "It's not anybody's fault. Everybody had fingerprints on it. We just need to do better."

Head coach Jim Harbaugh: "I think we're all going to look at this one and feel like we have fingerprints on it."

But even a forced narrative can contain a nugget of truth. The 49ers, on this night, certainly played poorly enough on both sides of the ball that you'd be hard-pressed to pick one specific area that failed them most of all. The defense allowed only 46 net rushing yards, forced six Chicago punts and held the Bears to 3-of-9 on third down conversions. But it also allowed four TD passes from Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler and forced not a single turnover. And penalties (16 for 118 yards) stymied numerous opportunies on offense, including a 54-yard score for Frank Gore that was called back on a phantom holding call. (“I didn’t even grab the guy," said Anquan Boldin, who was whistled for the infraction. "I don’t know how he called that crap.”)

A blocked punt a couple of minutes into the game, which led to the Niners' first touchdown, was the closest San Francisco came to any kind of active disruption of Chicago's scheme. After that, the game was dictated not by what was accomplished but by what could not be.

"Bears made plays, especially in that second half," said Harbaugh, who was even more jaw-grindingly terse than usual. "And we look at where the breakdowns were and where we can get better from them, how we can improve. And that's what you do. Make darn sure it doesn't happen again."

In the end, what the now 1-1 49ers really regretted was not capitalizing on points when they had their most opportune chances, especially in the first half. With five possessions that advanced to midfield or farther, the Niners could muster only 17 points. Meanwhile, the Bears offense seemed to have very little clue as to how to advance the ball against an amped San Francisco defense. Bears running back Matt Forte had only eight yards on eight rushes in the first two quarters and finished the night with 21 yards on 12 attempts.

Going up 17-0 with less than three minutes to go until halftime proved to represent little more than false hope as the Niners blew their first home game at their new digs in spectacular fashion. An amazing one-handed catch by Brandon Marshall with 13 seconds to go until the intermission set the tone for what would come.

"We want to win every game, especially the home opener and at the new stadium," Miller said. "We wanted to put on a good show and win the football game. That's every week. If we don't perform better, it's going to be tough to win any games no matter where they are or what part of the season they're in.

Jared Allen and the Bears made it tough on 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick after halftime.

"To be honest, it sucks," right guard Alex Boone said. "It's the first game ever in Levi's Stadium. You want to end it on a good note. I think we turned the ball over too much. We, as an offense, need to pick it up."

And even though the San Francisco offense had left quite a few points behind in the first half, it started off the second half with something almost better: complete domination of ball possession. The Niners had won the coin toss but deferred to the second half. Thus, they were able to open the third quarter with a seemingly endless 14-play drive that ate up 9:04 on the game clock. It netted only a field goal, but if the 49ers weren't going to score touchdowns, at least they could leave as little as possible time for the Bears to counter.

It looked for a while like that strategy might work, even as the Bears responded right back with their own 13-play, 80-yard drive that ended in Marshall's second score of the evening. With the lead cut to six, 20-14, Colin Kaepernick's interception on the first play of the next drive — with a subsequent unsportsmanlike conduct penatly for "inappropriate language," as referee Carl Cheffers described it, to boot — set up the Bears on the Niners' 3-yard line. A Cutler strike to tight end Martellus Bennett one play later and the Bears had a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Another Kaepernick interception with less than 10 minutes to play — his third of the night — led to Marshall's third score with seven minutes to go, and the Niners' comeback hopes were finally snuffed out with 1:17 to play at the Chicago 17-yard-line.

The postgame stats sheet was laden with anamolies by night's end — Kaepernick and Cutler were their team's respective leading rushers, for example, and only only player on either team (Michael Crabtree) cracked 50 yards receiving — but the only meaningful result was that a .500 Niners club must be ready to show up next week against a 2-0 Arizona Cardinals team that will fight like hell to stay competitive against a clearly weakened opponent.

"This next one is huge — the Cardinals, it counts for two," Boone said. "We need to rebound. We can't slip up. ... This is going to be a big game for us to really show if we can be the team we think we are."

The 49ers will host Super Bowl 50 in two years' time at Levi's Stadium, but before that, Super Bowl XLIX will be held this February in ... Glendale, Ariz.

San Francisco would prefer that next Sunday's visit not be their only visit to Arizona's environs this NFL season, but to get that far, they'll need to put their finger on exactly how good they truly can be.

You can follow Erik Malinowski, who most assuredly did not wear Levi's to this game, on Twitter at @erikmal and email him at erik.malinowski@fox.com.