The San Francisco 49ers’ pursuit of the NFC’s No. 1 seed and the right to remain at Levi’s Stadium through the duration of the postseason is alive and well after a thrilling 42-38 win over the NFC North champion Chicago Bears (11-5) on “Sunday Night Football.” The 80 combined points makes this game tied for the third-highest scoring affair of the 2025 season.
For the second week in a row, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy produced five touchdowns, making him just the seventh player in NFL history with five-plus total touchdown performances in consecutive games. Purdy is the first to do so since Russell Wilson in 2020 after he threw for five touchdowns in a Week 16 “Monday Night Football” win at the Indianapolis Colts. Purdy produced 303 yards through the air, three passing touchdowns and a pick six on 24 of 33 passing while also adding 28 yards on the ground and two scores on six carries. Running back Christian McCaffrey added to his NFL Offensive Player of the Year campaign with 140 yards rushing and a touchdown on 23 carries in addition to 41 yards receiving on four catches.
Purdy got the scoring going on the game’s first play when a throw over the middle to wide receiver Jauan Jennings was deflected into the air. Chicago linebacker T.J. Edwards then ran under the ball for the interception and ran it back 34 yards for the touchdown just 15 seconds into the game. Purdy immediately rebounded to lead the 49ers (12-4) all the way down the field for touchdowns on six of their next nine drives — possessions that ended with a passing touchdown to tight end Jake Tonges from a yard out, a 10-yard scramble by Purdy, a 5-yard rush from running back Christian McCaffrey, a 3-yard read-option keeper run by Purdy, a Houdini-like scramble to hit fullback Kyle Juszczyk for a 6-yard score and a 38-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Jennings.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams went drive for drive with Purdy, throwing two deep touchdown passes of over 35 yards in the first half: a 35-yarder to wide receiver Luther Burden on a vertical route down the left side of the field and a 36-yarder to tight end Colston Loveland on a free play because of an offsides penalty on the 49ers. Williams is now the first Chicago quarterback with multiple touchdown passes of 30 or more air yards in a game since Josh McCown back in 2013. He finished with 330 yards and 2 touchdowns on 25 of 42 passing. Running back D’Andre Swift picked up the scoring slack in the second half, sprinting away from the San Francisco defense for rushing touchdowns of 3 and 22 yards out.
After a 29-yard field goal from Bears kicker Cairo Santos that gave Chicago a 38-35 lead with 5:22 left to play, Purdy answered with the 38-yard scoring strike to Jennings with 2:15 left to play. Williams then marched the Bears down to the 49ers’ 2 where they had one last chance with four seconds left. San Francisco’s pass rush flushed Williams out to the left, and Williams’ last-second heave to the end zone fell short of Jahdae Walker to seal a 49ers victory.
San Francisco can clinch the NFC’s No. 1 seed and the NFC West division title with a home win over the current top-seeded Seattle Seahawks (13-3) in Week 18. The Bears remain the No. 2 seed entering the final week of the 2025 regular season.
Takeaways
Brock Purdy is no longer a game manager
Early on in Purdy’s 49ers career, he relied on a star-studded cast with playmakers like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. With Kittle sidelined with an ankle injury, McCaffrey was the only one of those players on the field for San Francisco Sunday night. Many of the plays Purdy made in Week 17 were created by his scrambling, whether it was his 6-yard passing touchdown to Juszczyk after evading two Bears defenders or his 10-yard rushing touchdown. Countless completions by Purdy were also made outside the pocket with Purdy on the run. With him playing at this level, the 49ers are one of the NFC’s most dangerous contenders.
Caleb Williams is just scratching the surface of what he can be
Williams played well, but he left a number of throws on the field, including his final throw that skipped just short of Walker as time expired. A number of misses on checkdowns and underneath throws to both Swift and Monangai and others hurt Chicago in critical spots, especially on the Bears’ final drive. The ceiling is high for Williams, but he needs to refine his mechanics to ace the little things, which on the game’s final possession, became a big deal.
Christian McCaffrey going record for record with Derrick Henry
Running backs approaching 30 years old and crossing over 30 years old used to be viewed as declining assets. That’s not the case for Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry (31), who went off for 216 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-24 Week 17 win at the Green Bay Packers, and McCaffrey (29) on Sunday night. The 49ers lead back joined Pro Football Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson as the only two players in NFL history with three seasons of 2,000-plus scrimmage yards and 15-plus touchdowns. McCaffrey racked up 121 of his 140 yards in the first half on Sunday night, the most first-half yards rushing in his career. Two of the game’s best running backs of the last decade remain two of the game’s best in 2025.
