The 49ers’ 42-38 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium came down to one final play, and the wild ending was fitting given the back-and-forth nature of the game.
After nearly scoring the winning touchdown with a hook-and-ladder on the game’s penultimate play, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and Co., with no timeouts remaining, had to rush to the line of scrimmage on fourth down for their last-ditch effort at a victory.
San Francisco, however, did have a timeout left — but rather than use it and give his defense a little bit more time to get settled, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan opted to let things play out.
“Real close,” Shanahan told reporters Tuesday when asked how close he was to calling a timeout. “We were talking about seeing the look and stuff, and you just go off your gut. We saw the look, we had everyone lined up and sat there and thought about it then just said, ‘Screw it, we’ll see what happens.’ ”
Everything worked out, of course, as the 49ers’ defense got the stop and the Week 17 victory.
Linebacker Tatum Bethune originally said immediately after the game Sunday that he and Dee Winters went off script from defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s blitz call, opting instead to drop out and make Williams run the clock out in the backfield.
But on Tuesday, Bethune admitted he misspoke.
“I had the decision of whether to blitz or not,” Bethune told reporters in the 49ers’ locker room before practice. “I rewatched the film, and I was wrong. Dee actually stayed in. He had his eye on the QB. It was a couple guys’ rush. We were just trying to make a play. I had the option to drop out or blitz depending on what the center does, and he ended up fanning out to me so that’s what I did, and everybody else did their job.”
Shanahan said much of the same when asked if Bethune and Winters made an on-the-spot adjustment, making it clear the two linebackers weren’t freelancing.
“I’m not sure exactly what the word was on the call, but I know that the people dropping has to do with where the center goes and the protection,” Shanahan said. “So, that depends on the protection, how many guys pop out and how many come. So, I don’t know exactly how Tatum worded it, but that changes based off what protections they do.”
Saleh clearly was OK with what he saw before the ball was snapped, and the 49ers’ decision not to call a timeout worked on a night where the defense allowed more points than it would have liked.
“If he didn’t like it or something, [I would have called timeout],” Shanahan said. “If Saleh was screaming something he didn’t like, but no one said anything and felt good about it so you just let it ride.”
After the win, the 49ers now ride into a pivotal Week 18 game against the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday at Levi’s Stadium with the NFC West title and No. 1 playoff seed on the line.
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