Bears fall to 49ers in prime-time shootout

The Bears then took a 38-35 lead on Cairo Santos’ 29-yard field goal with 5:22 left in the fourth quarter. But the 49ers regained a 42-38 advantage on Purdy’s 38-yard TD pass to Jauan Jennings with 2:15 left.

The Bears began their ensuing possession at their own 35, and as he has done all season, Williams executed the two-minute drill with precision. He backed up the drive with a 4-yard run on third-and-4, a 14-yard pass to Burden on third-and-10 and a 13-yard completion to Loveland on fourth-and-5 at the 13 with :26 to play.

On second and 10 from the 13. Williams threw up the middle to Loveland, who threw the ball to Swift toward the right sideline. But the 49ers attacked Swift at the 2. With the Bears out of a timeout, Williams threw the ball to kill the clock with :04 to play.

Then, on the final play of the game, the Bears apparently weren’t lined up correctly, according to Johnson and Williams.

“We didn’t really line up in the formation we wanted,” Johnson said. “It’s my fault. I didn’t understand [Williams] the call pretty quickly, and so he’s trying to piece it together piecemeal.

“We were slightly misaligned, and I didn’t have enough time to be able to fix that, so we just had to try to make something out of nothing in that situation,” Williams said. “But with all that going on – time running out, we were misaligned – we had a shot, and I just gotta give my guys a chance in that situation. I ended up fouling the ball; I didn’t get my legs in it and I just put the ball in the end zone at that point. If it’s a pick or an incompletion at that point… but I can’t foul the ball.”

The Bears rallied after trailing 28-21 at halftime. In the first half, the 49ers held decisive advantages in first downs (22-8), total yards (330-154) and plays (47-19).

“The first half definitely didn’t go the way we wanted as a team,” Johnson said. “They controlled the ball. They did a good job building a lead. We couldn’t stay on the field on offense.

“In the second half, I felt like we picked up our team play and closed the gap, and we got to where we could potentially win this game at the end. I was proud of the guys for that, but it just wasn’t enough. And when you go on the road against a good team like that, you have to be on top of your mess all the time, and we just weren’t.”

Wide receiver DJ Moore and right tackle Darnell Wright both played Sunday night despite being listed as questionable on the injury report due to illness. Wright flew to San Francisco on Sunday after not traveling with the team on Saturday.

Receiver Olamide Zaccheaus and defensive back Nick McCloud did not play due to illness. Receiver Rome Odunze missed his fourth straight game with a foot injury. Others inactive were quarterback Case Keenum, offensive linemen Luke Newman, linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II and cornerback Dallis Flowers.

Niners tight end George Kittle missed the game with an ankle injury. This season, he has 52 receptions for 599 yards and seven touchdowns.