The Trey Lance era begins with an absolute dud on the road against the Chicago Bears.
Still the blame goes squarely on head coach Kyle Shanahan who put the training wheels on for Lance. The offense looked awful which was only made worse after Elijah Mitchell left the game with a knee injury.
When it is all said and done the only drive that the 49ers offense looked good in was their first possession of the game. What makes it worse is that it did not result in any points as Deebo Samuel fumbled. Lance at one point overthrew a wide open Tyler Kroft which would have resulted in a touchdown.
Worst of all though is that the San Francisco’s defense dominated in the first half. Shutting Justin Fields and the Bears offense out.
Yet the second half was a different story for the defense. A costly penalty by Dre Greenlaw extended what would have been a three and out, Tashaun Gipson dropped an easy interception, Talanoa Hufanga was having a huge game until that was nullified by him abandoning his spot on the field and leaving Dante Pettis wide open for an easy 51 yard touchdown reception.
Still somehow the 49ers were still leading 10-7 at this point. It was up to Lance to answer with points. He came inches short of a first down on that drive, Shanahan once again played this conservatively and elected to punt.
Chicago benefitted once again from penalties by San Francisco. Chavarius Ward bear hugged Pettis making it an easy illegal contact call. Azeez Al-Shaair a few plays later, hit a sliding Fields late and winds up in concussion protocol as well.
Fields finds Equanimeous St-Brown for an 18 yard touchdown. Cairo Santos does miss the extra point attempt and for the first time in the 2022 season the 49ers trail. 13-10 at this point. Does Lance come up with an answer? No. Instead, he throws an interception. Khalil Herbert caps the Bears drive off with a three-yard touchdown run. Once again the point after is missed, and the deficit is now 19-10 which was also the final score.
The question that Shanahan needs to address is why was Brandon Aiyuk only targeted twice? Fullback Kyle Juszczyk was not even targeted which is big since tight end George Kittle was out with a groin injury.
As the season progresses one thing is clear, Shanahan needs to take off the training wheels. This is the regular season now, a slow start in 2022 is a lot different than it was in 2021. As for defensive coordinator Demeco Ryans, those 15-yard penalties that extended drives need to get addressed and fixed immediately.