'Sunday Night Football' live updates: 49ers lead Bears 28-21 in second quarter

After scoring on back-to-back drives, the Bears were stonewalled on their latest drive. Chicago punted after only five plays, giving the 49ers one more chance to score before halftime.

San Francisco leads 28-21.

Shortly before halftime in the Bay Area, San Francisco is gaining an average of 9.4 yards with every play. Chicago is getting 7.0 yards.

Offense has been unstoppable since early in the first quarter, as the 49ers now take a 28-21 lead three minutes before halftime. These teams have combined to score touchdown on the last five drives.

The 49ers dodged a mistake late in the second quarter when Chicago’s C.J. Gardner-Johnson intercepted Brock Purdy’s pass near the goal line, but the play was waved off because of a facemask penalty on Gardner-Johnson earlier in the play.

Two plays later, Purdy kept an option look and ran it in 3 yards for a touchdown. He now has two touchdowns on the ground and another in the air.

San Francisco hadn't punted in its last two games entering tonight — 21 drives in all without a punt. That streak ended during the first quarter, and ever since the 49ers, have continued to eschew punts. Midway through the second quarter, the 49ers converted on fourth-and-3near midfield, and they're already inside the red zone as a result.

On the "Sunday Night Football" broadcast, NBC's Mike Tirico relayed a statistic you've never heard before. Brock Purdy just became the first player ever to pass for a touchdown, rush for a touchdown and throw an interception for a touchdown, all in a first quarter.

That was quick!

Three plays after the 49ers took a 21-14 lead, the Bears have tied it up. Caleb Williams drew a defender offside with a hard count and then snapped the ball for a free play. Scrambling to his right, Williams found Colston Loveland in the end zone for a 36-yard score.

These teams have combined for 42 points in 17 minutes and 40 seconds.

San Francisco did a masterful job blocking defenders on the perimeter to open holes for running back Christian McCaffrey. After a 16-yard run into the red zone, he ran in for a touchdown from 5 yards out to give San Francisco a 21-14 lead with 13 minutes left in the second quarter.

McCaffrey is already up to 82 yards rushing on 10 carries. The touchdown was his 17th this season.

Fun first quarter!

The Bears opened the game with a pick-six before back-to-back touchdown drives by the 49ers.

Chicago’s offense got going late in the first, and it looks like we may have a shootout on our hands.

The 49ers have averaged 34.4 points per game during their five-game winning streak, and that kind of output could be necessary tonight after Chicago scores 14 points before the first quarter has even ended.

The 49ers' defense is much improved under coordinator Robert Saleh, in his return to the role this season, but they don't get pressure on the quarterback, with a league-low 18 sacks entering tonight, and that can put their secondary at a disadvantage. They rank 23rd in passing yards allowed.

The Bears have finally awakened on offense.

After starting the game 1-of-4, Caleb Williams completed three of four throws on Chicago’s latest drive, culminating with a 35-yard flick of the wrist to rookie Luther Burden III for a score.

The Bears needed only five plays to travel 77 yards for the touchdown. It’s now 14-14.

Brock Purdy's second rushing touchdown this season, from 10 yards out on a bootleg, gives the 49ers a 14-7 lead with five minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

The scoring drive needed only three plays to go 66 yards.

McCaffrey, on pace for another season of 1,000 yards rushing and receiving apiece, tears up the left sideline for 43 yards midway through the first quarter.

The Bears picked up 6 yards on the ground before Caleb Williams threw incomplete on third down, forcing another punt. Williams has completed only one of four passes through two drives tonight.

San Francisco started their third drive with a promising 11-yard completion, but after gaining 4 yards total on its next three plays, it was forced to punt. Brock Purdy is 5-for-9 passing for 63 yards. Christian McCaffrey has four touches.

49ers tackle Trent Williams took off his wrist tape before the latest 49ers drive, indicating he could be done for the night after he sustained an injury earlier in the game.

Caleb Williams found Cole Kmet for 7 yards on the Bears’ first play of the game, but he threw incomplete on the two plays, and Chicago punted.

The 49ers will take over from their own 20 with the game tied at 7.

Brock Purdy's second possession went far better than his first. Intercepted for a touchdown on the game's first play, Purdy rebounded on the next drive, which resulted in a wide-open touchdown to Jake Tonges. Purdy went 3-for-6 on the drive.

Chicago entered this game tied with the Jaguars for the NFL lead in interceptions, with 21. The Bears are back in the top spot after the first play of the game with their 22nd pick of the year. It has been an impressive season under first-year defensive backs coach Al Harris and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

On the very first play for San Francisco, Brock Purdy's pass is tipped in a collision between his intended receiver and a Bears defender, and it's intercepted by T.J. Edwards and returned for a touchdown.

Fifteen seconds into this game, Chicago leads, 7-0.

The last time these two teams played, Brock Purdy had one of the best games of his career.

In a 38-13 win last December, Purdy completed 20 of 25 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns. He posted a QBR of 96.8 and a passer rating of 145.4.

In the same game, Caleb Williams threw for 134 yards and two scores, but his QBR was only 28.3.

So far this season, Chicago has only one win on the road against a team with a record over .500, a Week 13 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. A second such win for the Bears would be arguably the most impressive feat of Caleb Williams’ young career.

San Francisco may no longer have playmakers such as Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk who helped fuel their Super Bowl run during the 2023 season, but all-purpose playmaker Christian McCaffrey is back in his top form.

McCaffrey has 16 total touchdowns, third-most in the NFL entering Week 17, and he leads the league with 372 touches and is second with 1,888 scrimmage yards.

McCaffrey needs 151 more receiving yards to become the first player in NFL history to have multiple seasons with both 1,000-plus rushing and 1,000-plus receiving yards, after he did it in 2019 with Carolina, too.

The Bears have averaged 31 rushing attempts and 152 yards on the ground this season, second-most in the NFL behind Buffalo.

D'Andre Swift has 993 rushing yards on the season and would be the first Bear to surpass 1,000 in a season since quarterback Justin Fields in 2022. The last Bears running back to do it was David Montgomery in 2020.

Brandon Aiyuk was signed to a four-year, $120 million extension in 2024 after having posted consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons for San Francisco. The expectation was that Aiyuk would be a building block for the team's future. But before Week 15, he was placed on the reserve/left squad list, which rules him out for the rest of the season. Coach Kyle Shanahan said that after Aiyuk tore multiple knee ligaments on Oct. 20, 2024, he had been "extremely distant."

Aiyuk recently posted a video on social media of him speeding past the 49ers' stadium in his car.

The team has voided the guarantees in his contract for next season.

"He’s one of my favorite teammates I’ve played with. We have a lot of moments together from his rookie year, every year we’ve played together," tight end George Kittle said. "That’s the Brandon I remember. So if I think about the ‘I wish he’d be here,’ it kind of just makes me sad.”

The Bears' defense is one of only two this season, with Houston's, with three players with four or more interceptions.

Chicago safety Kevin Byard has a league-high six interceptions, while defensive back Nahshon Wright has five and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds has four.

Chicago's 31 total takeaways this season lead the NFL.

When Pro Bowl rosters were announced last week, both teams featured multiple selections. (The Pro Bowl will take place Feb. 3.)

For San Francisco:

• RB Christian McCaffrey (4th selection)
• FB Kyle Juszczyk (10th selection)
• TE George Kittle (7th selection)
• LT Trent Williams (12th selection)
• LS Jon Weeks (2nd selection)
• Special teamer Luke Gifford (1st selection)

For Chicago:

• LG Joe Thuney (4th selection)
• S Kevin Byard (3rd selection)
• C Drew Dalman (1st selection)

The 49ers are on pace for their fewest sacks in a single season since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. That's in large part because defensive lineman Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner each suffered season-ending injuries before Week 6.

So far, the 49ers have just 18 sacks. Compare that to Denver's league-leading 63 sacks entering Week 17.

The NFL has two 29-year-old coordinators this season in Chicago's Declan Doyle and Jacksonville's Grand Udinski. Doyle is younger by two months, but both have piloted two of the NFL's most surprising offenses this season.

Before this season, the last time a coordinator's first game happened before turning 30 was Sean McVay with Washington, in 2014.

Between last season and this season, with a new staff under coach Ben Johnson, the Bears' offense has improved from 28th to 10th in points per game, and 32nd — dead last — to fifth in total yards per game.

After Caleb Williams was sacked 68 times as a rookie last season, third most in the league, the Bears made upgrading their offensive line an offseason priority. This year, playing with a new left tackle, left guard, center and right guard, the Bears have allowed Williams to be sacked just 23 times in 15 games.

Williams has taken to calling the revamped offensive line "The Avengers," after the band of comic-book superheroes.

Mathematically, you could not have two quarterbacks who entered the league from more disparate positions than Chicago's Caleb Williams and San Francisco's Brock Purdy.

Purdy was the very last player chosen in the 2022 draft, 262nd overall. Williams was the No. 1 pick two years later.

Since Purdy returned from a turf toe injury, the 49ers have won five straight, including a win Monday against Indianapolis in which Purdy threw a career-high five touchdowns, with one interception. This season, he has thrown for 1,737 yards, 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions in seven starts.

In his second season, Williams has led six fourth-quarter comebacks, the most in the NFL this season and the most in a season in Bears history. Williams is averaging 226 yards per game, 18 more than last season.

If San Francisco wins its final two games, it will be guaranteed to earn the NFC's No. 1 seed for the postseason.

Chicago's path to the top seed requires help. The Bears must win their last two games and also need Seattle to lose once.

What a change one year can make in Chicago and San Francisco. These teams combined for 11 wins one year ago while each finishing last in their respective divisions.

Now, each has 11 wins entering Week 17 and a playoff berth guaranteed.

If either team ends up as the NFC's top seed, it will become the first team to miss the playoffs and become a No. 1 seed in consecutive seasons since ... the 49ers, in 2019.