San Francisco 49ers: Will the San Francisco 49ers Beat the Chicago Bears?

The San Francisco 49ers return home to open their new stadium triumphant. After dispatching the Dallas Cowboys somewhere in the second quarter of their 28-17 win, the 49ers next face the Chicago Bears on Sunday night. According to OddsShark, the 49ers sit favored by roughly a touchdown over the Bears, who couldn’t pull out a win against the Buffalo Bills in their opener last week.

The Bears come into this game with question marks aplenty in their powerful passing game. Their top three wide receivers are all on the injury list headed into this one, listed as questionable.

Brandon Marshall says he’ll be ready to play against the 49ers, but he hurt his right ankle twice against Buffalo, and was held out of practice on both Wednesday and Thursday, according to the official practice report. I’d expect him to play Sunday night, as he came back in against Buffalo, but the ankle might slow him down some.

Also missing practice on Wednesday and Thursday was Alshon Jeffery, the other starting receiver. Jeffery hurt his hamstring against Buffalo, and missed the final quarter or so of the game. While he was walking without a limp after the game, according to ESPN, he has not yet been cleared to return to active duty. Unlike Marshall, there’s some serious question as to whether Jeffery will be available on Sunday night.

An injury to either starting receiver would normally mean Josh Morgan would get more time in three-receiver sets, but Morgan has a groin injury and was limited in practice as well. With Marquess Wilson on injured reserve, that leaves Santonio Holmes as the only fully healthy receiver on Chicago’s roster at this time.

That should cushion some of the blow for the 49ers’ injured secondary. All top three cornerbacks, Tramaine Brock, Chris Culliver and Jimmie Ward, left the Dallas game with injuries.

Brock has a sprained toe, which puts his availability for the game up in the air. He was able to come back in an emergency situation against Dallas when Ward went out, but he sat out practice on Wednesday and has to be considered day-to-day. Ward was at practice, however, and worries of a concussion seem to be overblown. He should be ready to go.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

That leaves Culliver, who did in fact suffer a concussion. That puts him squarely into the concussion protocol, which is very hard to predict in advance. Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group reports that the 49ers are “hopeful” that Culliver will be ready to go, but I’d place him as the least likely of the three to be ready for Sunday. He was back at practice on Thursday, but only in a non-contact jersey.

In a potential battle between gimpy starters and untested depth, I think you have to give the 49ers a solid advantage. Rookie Dontae Johnson had a great game against Dallas, pressed into service after both starters went down with an injury.

When Johnson came in, the Cowboys went after him immediately. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Johnson was targeted seven times on his 34 coverage snaps, primarily lining up against second receiver Terrance Williams. The end results were two passes that fell to the turf incomplete, two passes Johnson managed to bat down and three receptions for 28 yards. He was responsible for Williams’ fourth-quarter touchdown reception, but other than that he had a fantastic day.

Compare that to the depth for Chicago. Holmes and Morgan combined for three catches for 30 yards on eight targets, according to Pro Football Focus. While Marshall and Jeffery are better than the 49ers’ starting corners, their reserve corners seem to perform better than Chicago’s backup receivers.

If either Marshall or Jeffery can’t go on Sunday night, this is a huge advantage for the 49ers. The 49ers do really well against solitary stud receivers, having gone 14-1 in the past two years against teams with tall stars. If they only have to defend a gimpy Marshall or Jeffery, they can devote safety help over the top to bracket the receiver—they’ll get their catches, but the damage done by those catches will be held in check.

Tim Sharp/Associated Press

In short, if you see Chris Cook, Johnson or Perrish Cox covering Jeffery, the 49ers are in trouble. If they’re covering Josh Morgan or Santonio Holmes, the 49ers should have the upper hand.

Even if they do have an advantage in the air, however, the 49ers need to be careful to not be destroyed by the run game.

DeMarco Murray and the Cowboys ran all over the 49ers last week. You can blame some of the 127 yards they gained on the ground to the game situation—with both starting corners out, and nursing a 21-3 lead in the second quarter, the 49ers opted to have more players drop into coverage and concede some of the rushing game to Dallas.

That doesn’t explain how Murray was able to average 5.9 yards per carry in the first, competitive quarter, however. Nor does it justify the six missed tackles Pro Football Focus charted—Michael Wilhoite, in particular, looked bad out there in relief of NaVorro Bowman, and Ahmad Brooks didn’t exactly cover himself with glory either.

These need to be cleaned up against Chicago, or Matt Forte’s going to rush for 150 yards, which would make the passing game irrelevant. Chicago’s offensive line did a very good job of opening holes against Buffalo—especially their reserves. Michael Ola and Brian de la Puente had to come into the game in the second half, and the Bears didn’t miss a beat.

If the 49ers can’t beat Chicago’s line on the point of attack, the Bears are going to be able to move the ball against San Francisco—and a successful run game will cause the 49ers to slide safeties up in the box, allowing Marshall or Jeffery to exploit one-on-one coverage on the outside. The 49ers need to win the battle on the line of scrimmage.

The 49ers also need to do a better job of keeping the pocket clean on offense. Colin Kaepernick did a great job under pressure against Dallas, but he was still forced to move around more than a quarter of the time against Dallas. Kaepernick made some great plays with his legs, most notably on this touchdown pass, but those great plays still had to be made. Mike Iupati had another troubling game, allowing pressure on multiple occasions. If the Bears can take advantage of that, the 49ers might have a harder time moving the ball.

At the end of the day, however, I think the Bears’ injuries to their receiving corps will hurt more than the 49ers’ injuries to their cornerback unit. I think the Bears defense is bad enough that they won’t be able to take advantage of the 49ers’ offensive line issues. I think Matt Forte will rush for over 100 yards, but that it won’t be enough to change the outcome of the game.

The Bears aren’t a bad football team—they’re a borderline playoff contender. I just think combining the 49ers’ talent advantage with their home-field advantage and the differing momentum both teams bring with them, that the 49ers should get to 2-0 against Chicago on Sunday night.

Prediction: San Francisco 27, Chicago 20

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers. Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.