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Bears, 49ers battle for home field advantage in playoffs

The best play-callers in the NFL always take time to watch some of the other offenses in the league in order to steal ideas or see new wrinkles that can help their own team.

San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan has long been viewed as one of the best play-callers in the NFL, with Chicago’s Ben Johnson quickly moving up on that list, making Sunday night’s key NFC showdown between the Bears (11-4) and the 49ers (11-4) a must-watch game.

The Chicago Bears are looking to solidify their playoff prospects when they battle for home-field advantage in a Sunday night matchup at San Francisco.

The Bears clinched a playoff spot last week and can clinch their first division title since 2018 with either a win or a loss by Green Bay. The 49ers clinched their fourth playoff spot in the past five seasons last week and will earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC with wins in their final two games.

First-year coach Ben Johnson has the Bears firing on all cylinders on both sides of the football. Chicago’s plus-21 turnover margin is the second best for any team through 15 games in the past 13 seasons, behind only the plus-23 for the 2019 Patriots. The previous time the Bears finished a season plus-21 or better came in 1985 when they were plus-23 on the way to winning the franchise’s only Super Bowl title.

Timely big plays -- and big breaks -- have also boosted the Bears this year. Chicago is the first team in NFL history to win six games after trailing in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.

Chicago QB Caleb Williams has flourished this season under the pressure. He has nine TD passes and a 100.1 passer rating on third down.

Bears TE Colston Loveland has at least three catches in 10 straight games for the fifth-longest streak by a rookie TE since the merger. Pro Bowl DB Kevin Byard III leads the NFL with six INTs, the most by any Bears defender since 2018.

There'll be an interested head-to-head matchup between the two teams just as the game begins. The Bears haven’t allowed an opening-drive score in seven straight games and have given an NFL-low 10 points on opening drives this season. But San Francisco has five TDs and one FG on seven opening drives with Brock Purdy at QB. 


(AP Photo Nam Huh)
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