Bears-49ers Preview

Here's my preview of the Bears-49ers matchup this afternoon:

Who Has the Edge?

Offense
Rex Grossman and the Bears' offense will be looking to rebound from a very poor showing in the Monday Night Miracle against the Cards. Look for the Bears to come out running the ball with Thomas Jones. Cedric Benson also is likely to receive more carries and possibly play on every third series. Also look for shorter to medium-range pass plays to be called for Grossman early on so that he can build some confidence, then offensive coordinator Ron Turner may allow Grossman to take some deep shots to Bernard Berian later. Expect the Niners to use QB Alex Smith on a lot of rollouts, bootlegs, waggles, etc. to get him away from the Bears' pass rush. If Smith has enough time, he'll try to look for Antonio Bryant deep, Arnaz Battle short, or dump it off to RB Frank Gore. Gore is the Niners' do-everything RB, but he's likely to have a rough time today against a very tough Bears front. Bryant has the speed to beat CB Charles Tillman deep, as he toasted the Bears for two late TDs as a Cleveland Brown last season, but Smith will need time for deep routes to develop, and he isn't likely to get it. Edge: Bears

Defense
For the Bears, bad tackling and a general sense of overconfidence and not being ready to play made the game against the Cards much more difficult than it should've been. This unit should come out firing against San Francisco on Sunday. One interesting thing to watch will be how Todd Johnson plays as the new starting strong safety with Mike Brown out for the season. Johnson is a smart player and big hitter who has a reputation for not always wrapping up on tackles. The loss of Brown will hurt, but Johnson has a pretty good amount of experience, having taken over for Brown after Brown tore his Achilles in 2004. The Niners... don't have much on defense, they're not very good at defending the pass or the run. I don't think they'll have much success stopping the Bears' offense. Edge: Bears

Special Teams
Bears kicker Robbie Gould has still been solid gold, and Devin Hester proved what a game-changing player he can be in the Monday Night Miracle. 49ers kicker Joe Nedney is having an average season, and returners Maurice Hicks and Brandon Williams are good but not great. Edge: Bears

Coaching
The Bears' coaching staff also needs to rebound from the Cardinals game, especially offensive coordinator Turner, who did not do a good job of playcalling in that game. Mike Nolan and his Niners staff have done a decent job with a young team. Niners offensive coordinator Norv Turner, Ron's brother, has done a good job of helping QB Alex Smith develop into a pretty good player this season. Edge: Bears

Intangibles
Some uninformed people called the Bears' early-season success a fluke after the Arizona game. The team will be very eager to prove all the haters wrong again. They'll also be wearing their orange alternate jerseys, the same ones that they beat the Niners in last season. Starting with the Bears' miracle victory against the Niners in 2001, San Francisco has gone winless against Chicago. Edge: Bears

Prediction
What should've happened to the Cards two Monday nights ago will happen to the Niners today. Bears 30, 49ers 6