By the numbers: 49ers QB Trey Lance 'frustrated with myself' after loss to Justin Fields, Bears

Kevin Skiver

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By the numbers: 49ers QB Trey Lance 'frustrated with myself' after loss to Justin Fields, Bears image

Prior to the Bears' bout against the 49ers Sunday, the grass on Soldier Field was a huge topic of conversation. The soggy conditions were seeing water pooling on the field regularly, which tempered expectations for the anticipated duel between Justin Fields and Trey Lance.

The Bears' first half was utterly brutal. They had three three-and-outs, an interception, and a 10-play drive that ended up netting just 32 yards. Chicago was averaging 2.3 yards per play and had a total of five first downs.

The 49ers, for their part, went into the first half with a 7-0 lead on a six-yard run from Deebo Samuel.

The second half featured a completely different-looking team, as the Bears seemed to galvanize themselves. They had three second-half touchdowns and just one point, which translated to a 19-10 win over the 49ers.

MORE: Why the Bears got a 15-yard penalty for using a towel vs. 49ers

Fields finished his day 8 of 17 for 121 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. 51 of those yards were on a glorious secondary route touchdown pass to Dante Pettis, whereas another 18 went to Equanimeous St. Brown.

Fields' second half was genuinely impressive. After starting the game 3 of 9 for 19 yards and a pick, he went 5 of 8 for 102 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. And a big part of that was him being allowed to be himself in the Chicago offense for seemingly the first time in his young career.

On the other side, Lance also struggled for long stretches. He went 13 of 28 for 164 yards and an interception that set up a Bears touchdown in the second half. Her certainly showed flashes of what he was capable of, particularly in evading pressure, but this game seems like a poor indicator of what an offense led by him will look like. With that being said, everything Lance does is amplified with Jimmy Garoppolo still on the San Francisco sideline.

"I thought he did some good things coming out," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said postgame. "I thought he did some good things, but the way it got there at the end— everything fell apart there."

The 49ers QB had a more critical look at his performance, though. 

"I made too many mistakes," Lance said. "A lot of stuff to clean up, for sure."

“I’m frustrated with myself a little bit. I feel like I’m a lot better than that."

Neither quarterback posted eye-popping statlines.

Player COM/ATT YDS TDs INTs RTG CAR RSH YDS
Justin Fields 8/17 121 2 1 85.7 11 28
Trey Lance 13/28 164 0 1 50.3 13 54

The stats for this game, all-in-all, weren't pretty for either side.

49ers Stat Bears
331 Total Yards 204
155 Passing Yards 105
176 Rushing Yards 99
8-17 Third Downs 5-14
4.9 Yards per play 3.6
2 Turnovers 1

One could argue these stats paint a much more flattering picture than the 49ers deserves, but both sides a lot to build on. The Bears, however, deserve a lot of credit for getting at the right time. In the end, that was the difference in a game that was going to look sloppy no matter who played in it.

“We’ve got to play a lot better and do things right a lot longer than what we did today— no matter who we play,” Shanahan said.

"I’ve still got my head up," Lance added. "Excited to get ready to go next week."

The 49ers have divisional foe Seahawks next week. The Bears get NFC North rival Packers.

Kevin Skiver

Kevin Skiver Photo

Kevin Skiver has been a content producer at Sporting News since 2021. He previously worked at CBS Sports as a trending topics writer, and now writes various pieces on MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and college sports. He enjoys hiking and eating, not necessarily in that order.