SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — 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.
“I think Shanahan is one of the best, if not the best in the business, in terms of doing this, calling plays at a high level for as long as he has,” Johnson said. “He’s probably the first to truly marry that run game and pass game as well as you see some of these other teams doing it now, he was kind of the front-runner on all that stuff. You always like to turn on that San Francisco tape each week, whether you’re playing them or not, just to look at some of the stuff that they’re doing.”
The 49ers have evolved from a run-first team early in his tenure to one that relies more on passing since the emergence of Brock Purdy. That has been evident during a five-game winning streak that featured Purdy's five-TD performance last week against Indianapolis.
The Bears (11-4) have engineered one of the best turnarounds in the NFL this season in Johnson's first year as coach. He helped build a strong offensive line that has fueled one of the NFL's best running attacks and helped Caleb Williams develop.
“I’ve got so much respect for Ben just in terms of how they run the ball,” said Shanahan, who matched up the past two seasons against Johnson when he was offensive coordinator in Detroit. “It starts with the run always with Ben and the things off of it, which he’s a very balanced play-caller and makes teams defend everything.”
The two offenses are a big reason why the Bears and 49ers are still in the running for division titles and the top seed in the NFC playoffs headed into Week 17.
Chicago can clinch the NFC North for the first time since 2018 with one more win or a loss by Green Bay and can earn the top seed with two wins and one loss by Seattle.
San Francisco would win the NFC West and earn the top seed by beating the Bears this weekend followed by a home win against Seattle in the finale. That would give the 49ers home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs and a chance to win the Super Bowl at Levi's Stadium on Feb. 8 without having to leave home again.
Williams has shown a knack for some late-game magic in his second season.
He has led Chicago to six wins this season in games where the team trailed in the final two minutes of regulation, setting a record for the most late-game comebacks in NFL history. Williams has a 113.2 passer rating when the game is tied or he's trailing by eight points or fewer in the fourth quarter or overtime, and he has led the team to scores on 10 of 15 drives in that situation, with two TD drives in the comeback win against Green Bay last week.
“The mindset just changes,” Williams said. "A play happens and the spark becomes a fire and we’re ignited at that point.”
The Niners offense has been clicking on such a high level that the team hasn't needed to punt once in the past two games. San Francisco is just the sixth team ever to go back-to-back games in the regular season or playoffs without punting. The 49ers have gone 22 straight possessions since the last punt for Thomas Morstead in the fourth quarter on Nov. 30 at Cleveland.
“That’s pretty rare,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “So that’s cool to be a part of and hopefully we do it again.”
San Francisco has struggled to generate a pass rush ever since Nick Bosa went down with a season-ending knee injury in Week 3, with the team having a league-low 18 sacks on the season. But two rookie defensive tackles stepped up last week against Indianapolis, with Alfred Collins and C.J. West each getting their first career sacks.
It was the first time the Niners got sacks from two rookies in the same game since 2016.
"I think they’re only going to get better, but it’s good to see them surging, especially as rookies here in the second half of the year,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said.
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