How Week 2 Penalties and Mistakes May Help San Francisco 49ers' Young Players

The overwhelming plethora of penalties and mistakes certainly contributed to the San Francisco 49ers' 28-20 loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 2.

In all, the 49ers committed 16 penalties, which cost San Francisco 118 yards. A number of other rookie mistakes plagued the 49ers as well.

NFL Game Rewind

Many of these penalties landed on the 49ers' young players—rookies and second-year pros who unquestionably are going to make a slew of mistakes during the early tenures of their respective careers.

While the sheer amount of these penalties are a cause for concern heading forward, are there any positives that can be gained from this otherwise perceived debacle?

Before we dive into that, let's dive into some tweets that point out some penalties and mistakes from the younger crop of 49ers talent.

Rookie linebacker Aaron Lynch would have had an easy fumble recovery had he not thought about scoring a defensive touchdown.

USA TODAY Sports

Rookie mistake—simple as that.

Second-year pro Quinton Dial's hit to quarterback Jay Cutler appeared to turn the game around for the Bears offense.

Dial landed a penalty for leading with the crown of his helmet into Cutler's abdomen. Before the penalty, Cutler had completed only eight passes for 38 yards. After the hit, Cutler went 15-of-16 for 138 yards and four touchdowns, per Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports.

So is there any positive that Dial can take away from this?

On the forefront, Dial can at least be happy knowing he was able to get penetration along the interior of the Bears offensive line. Cutler was vulnerable, and Dial put the pressure on. Perhaps a slight change in technique will turn that penalty into a QB hit in the stat books down the road.

NFL Game Rewind

We'll let the 49ers coaching staff worry about that for now, but Dial can see the difference one play, one call can make.

It's a hard—but good—lesson to learn.

While Dial's hit might have changed the momentum, it was the play of Bears wideout Brandon Marshall over 49ers rookie defensive back Jimmie Ward that prompted additional questions.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Marshall beat Ward a total of three times for touchdowns, finishing the game with a total of five receptions for 48 yards.

When asked how he felt about the matchup between Ward and Marshall, head coach Jim Harbaugh refused to single out the rookie.

"Really, I feel like we all have fingerprints on this one, and we'll look and see exactly what we could have done differently or how we can improve from it," Harbaugh said, via Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee. "And I feel like we will be able to and we'll come back stronger for it."

Harbaugh's comments may be trying to divert the attention away from San Francisco's first-round draft pick, but at least some of Ward's teammates were quick to support him.

"The youngster, Ward, was fighting his tail off and doing what we were asking him to do," linebacker Patrick Willis said, via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News. "They just made the plays. Hat's off to him. My thing I said to him was to not get yourself down, to take this game and understand the magnitude of the NFL and the receivers here."

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Matching up with the 6'4", 229-pound Marshall is obviously a tough challenge for any rookie. While the starting nickel corner will likely face off against shorter slot receivers around the NFL, gaining this experience against a larger wideout like Marshall will prove vital in time.

It may just be painful to watch at the start.

Perhaps this is where defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and secondary coach Ed Donatell work with Ward to develop his press-man scheme in order to thwart larger wideouts directly at the line.

This might be another positive lesson that pays dividends down the road.

These rookie mistakes are all a part of developing talented, promising players into an elite group that will help carry the 49ers into the future.

We should expect some of these woes to plague this particular set of players, and the results may not always be pretty.

But as long as positives can be drawn, the overall product will be much better than what the ugly moments might have revealed.

Let's hope that turns out to be the case after an ugly showing in Week 2.

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and ESPN.com unless otherwise indicated.

Peter Panacy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers. Be sure to check out his entire archive on 49ers' news, insight and analysis.

Follow him @PeterMcShots on Twitter.