Bears coach Ben Johnson was referring to the Christmas holiday coming on a Thursday and Pro Bowl berths during a week of preparation for the 49ers, but he uncovered a long Bears history of disappointment.
“A lot of stuff going on this week with distractions potentially and things of that nature, but I think it’ll be a good thing for us to go on the road and really focus in on this game,” Johnson said.
It’s never a good week for the Bears to go to San Francisco.
The Sunday night game in San Francisco could be the ultimate test of Johnson’s coaching ability.
.@Realrclark25 is going with the Bears to make a deeper playoff run over the 49ers 👀 pic.twitter.com/9LZWiJczpt
— First Take (@FirstTake) December 25, 2025
It’s not that the 49ers are a team above and beyond the Bears in talent and ability. This is yet to be proven.
It’s not that the 49ers have a coach very effective in his system and at in-game strategy, although this could also be the case with Kyle Shanahan.
The problem is this terrible jinx or funk that seems to envelop the Bears over the last 65 years when they travel to San Francisco. There must be some supernatural explanation, because the same thing hasn’t happened to other teams going there over this stretch of time.
On this day in 1985, the #49ers punched their ticket to their second #SuperBowl appearance by defeating #DaBears 23-0.
Guy McIntyre is used as a fullback during the game. Mike Ditka copies idea for next season with William Perry.#Random49ers #FTTB https://t.co/MTkpDANsws
— #Random49ers (@Random49ers) January 6, 2022
Even back to the days when the Bears and 49ers were rivals in the NFL Western Conference and played twice a year, whether it was at Kezar Stadium, Candlestick Park or now Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the result has often been a Chicago blowout loss. The average is a Bears deficit of 13.28 points in all road games against the 49ers since 1960. In road losses only, it’s 22.8.
It started when George Halas was coach in 1960 and has run through Mike Ditka and Lovie Smith. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams experienced it when Thomas Brown was interim coach last season.
October 14, 1985, after the Bears’ victory over the 49ers, Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol pic.twitter.com/ovUwgWiRt5
— hoopsjunky (@hoopsjunky54491) October 14, 2025
Even during the dominant Ditka years, this usually occurred.
A signature Ditka win in 1985 was the 26-10 beating they gave the defending world champion Niners as revenge for a 23-0 blowout loss in the 1984 NFC championship game at Candlestick Park. However, there was Ditka throwing his ABC gum at 49ers fans a few years later.
#49ers HC Kyle Shanahan on Bears QB Caleb Williams:
“Caleb is one of the best throwers and most athletic QBs I’ve ever seen in terms of his height, weight, and speed. He makes some big-time throws. Extremely scary on the perimeter. He can hold onto the ball for a while — not in… https://t.co/SbfmxFItF2 pic.twitter.com/w5hdhkKKAJ
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 25, 2025
It happened with good Bears teams and bad ones, some building and some in the midst of collapsing. Dick Jauron took a team there for the 2003 season opener and it managed to crush the hopes for an entire season with a 49-7 loss.
The Bears have lost in double digits in 18 of their last 28 games in San Francisco. This might not sound overly depressing but consider how so many NFL games are one-score games and this is pretty serious. Of those 18 games, 14 were at least three-score games.
They went through a stretch of games when they lost by 42, 17, 29, 38, 26 and 41. Those deficits sound like some tiny directional school playing a power-5 conference juggernaut rather than common NFL scores.
7 years ago today, the Bears beat the 49ers 14-9 to clinch the No. 3 seed pic.twitter.com/ZCEWGOy2Gj
— Depressed Bears Fan (@DepBearsFan) December 23, 2025
Last game on the coast was typical for the Bears with a 38-13 loss in 2024.
It was often theorized that the Bears simply don’t handle trips to California well due to things like the time change, and they did have many double-digit losses in L.A. to the Rams. However, the series was interrupted by the Rams’ move to and back from St. Louis, and the drubbings absorbed were never as consistently administered as those in San Francisco.
Coaches have tried different approaches, like going out a day or two early. Nothing like this has been discussed this week but nothing ever made a difference.
“We are business as usual here,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a process we believe in and we’re going to adhere to that. We’re going to exhaust every resource available to go 1-0 this week.”
Mike Ditka once referred to Bill Walsh as the “white-haired wizard”. The reference was part of a pregame taunt during a tense rivalry between Ditka’s Chicago Bears and Walsh’s San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s. pic.twitter.com/uk4seZ25li
— Fooey Yu (@FooeyYu66052) October 15, 2025
One noted exception to the Bears’ blowout history in San Francisco came in the last Bears win there, 14-9. That came under Matt Nagy in the 2018 season when the Bears won their last NFC North title.
On Sunday night, the Bears could be playing the 49ers with an NFC North title already in their pockets. That would happen if the Packers lost or tied on Saturday night with Baltimore.
The Bears could clinch it by beating San Francisco.
Regardless, the superstitious or historically inclined might suspect another disaster in San Francisco.
Would the Chicago Bears and Ben Johnson sit their starters vs the Detroit Lions if it meant knocking the Green Bay Packers out of the playoffs? Full episode: https://t.co/Gq1GblS9Va #dabears #gopackgo #OnePride pic.twitter.com/1Y5VUa5ux0
— NFLOutdated 🎙 (@NflOutdated) December 24, 2025Bears at 49ers
(Since 1960)
1960: 49ers 25, Bears 7
1961: 49ers 41, Bears 31
1962: Bears 30, 49ers 14
1964: 49ers 31, Bears 21
1965: 49ers 52, Bear 24
1966: 49ers 41, Bears 14
1967: Bears 28, 49ers 14
1969: 49ers 42, Bears 21
1970: 49ers 37, Bears 16
1971: 49ers 13, Bears 0
1975: 49ers 31, Bears 3
1976: Bears 19, 49ers 12
1978: Bears 16, 49ers 13
1979: Bears 28, 49ers 27
1981: 49ers 28, Bears 17
1984: 49ers 23, Bears 0**
1985: Bears 26, 49ers 10
1987: 49ers 41, Bears 0
The NFL Network is split between the #49ers and #Bears SNF showdown 👀 pic.twitter.com/FtogJ2jvqJ
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) December 24, 2025
1989: 49ers 26, Bears 0
1991: 49ers 52, Bears 14
1995: 49ers 44, Bear 15*
2000: 49ers 17, Bears 0
2003: 49ers 49, Bears 7
2009: 49ers 10, Bear 6
2012: 49ers 32, Bears 7
2014: Bears 28, 49ers 20
2018: Bears 14, 49ers 9
2024: 49ers 38, Bears 13
#49ers will be rocking their ‘94 red throwbacks on Sunday Night Football vs. Bears this week 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6iH3DFG8dT
— Akash Anavarathan (@akashanav) December 23, 2025Luther Burden back at practice but defensive injury is now an issueGeorge Kittle situation could let Bears avoid one potential matchup problemWhy Pro Bowl snub for Bears CB Nahshon Wright is entirely unclearCaleb Williams and Ben Johnson enjoy last laugh at Bears doubters
X: BearsOnSI