Four plays into their opening drive of the 2022 season, the Bears’ defense already was defending the red zone — with the 49ers driving to the 16-yard line after Trey Lance’s 31-yard pass to wide-open receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

But on the fifth play, the Bears defense responded and lived up to its promise to back up all their hustle and intensity and playing smart under coach Matt Eberflus by executing the key element of Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. principle by taking the ball away.

On first-and-10, the 49ers went to a pet play — a handoff to elusive wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who gained four yards before Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson “Peanut punched” the ball from Samuel, with rookie safety Jaquan Brisker recovering at the Bears’ 12-yard line.

Just like that, a mindset became a reality.

“I think getting the ball out confirms the H.I.T.S. principle,” linebacker Nick Morrow said following the Bears’ 19-10 victory over the 49ers on Sunday. “And I think [it] taught guys to really believe it — like ‘Here it is.’ Because [the 49ers] got out a little bit. They got to the edge a little bit. But guys were running to the ball, got the ball out and we recovered. That’s huge.”

The Bears’ defense was more efficient than spectacular against a 49ers offense with a new quarterback in Trey Lance and without injured All-Pro tight end George Kittle. But what the Bears did looks repeatable. They allowed 331 yards — higher than last year’s average of 316.7. They allowed 8-of-17 third-down conversions (47.1%) — higher than last year’s average of 38.4%. They allowed 176 rushing yards — higher than last year’s average of 125.

But they allowed only 10 points, well below last year’s average of 23.9. When the Bears allowed 331 yards last season — against the Seahawks and Vikings — they allowed 24 points.

They did it by being good when they had to be and making their turnovers count. After the Bears rallied to take a 13-10 lead with 12:45 left in the fourth quarter, Eddie Jackson muted the 49ers’ response by stepping in front of Samuel for an interception at the 49ers 47-yard line and returning it 26 yards to the 21. The fired-up Bears offense scored five plays later for a 19-10 lead. Mother Nature — on the Bears’ side, interestingly — did the rest.

That Jackson made the key play was not insignificant. After tough luck and subpar play the past two seasons, the pressure is on him to produce difference-making plays. And he did.

“It felt good,” said Jackson, whose last interception was in the 2019 season finale against the Vikings. “Honestly, I wish I would have scored. That one’s on me. I owe them something. But if felt good, especially coming in a situation like that.”

A lot went right for the Bears against the 49ers — from the 49ers committing ill-timed penalties to Kittle not playing to the weather. But they weren’t about to turn this one down.

“It’s just a good start. We’ve still got 16 games,” Johnson said. “Just a good start for sure. I thought there was a lot of doubt going into this game. To get this statement game was really good against a very, very good team and a good organization.”

But the Bears earned a right to crow a little.

“Nobody’s surprised in the locker room. Everyone outside is more surprised than we are,” Jackson said. “We know what we’ve got. I feel like we’re gonna shock a lot of people with the way we work –[nobody] works harder and the mindset we have as a team and what we’re building is something special.”

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The Bears’ season-opening 19-10 win over the 49ers was a wild one and gave coach Matt Eberflus a rollicking start to his tenure.

Here are three points beyond the obvious from their 19-point rally at the end:

Surprise contributors

The Bears’ most productive offensive players were wide receiver Dante Pettis and running back Khalil Herbert. That was quite a departure from expectations that they’d be led by running back David Montgomery (26 yards on 17 carries), wide receiver Darnell Mooney (one catch for eight yards) and tight end Cole Kmet (one target, no catches).

Rookie rolls

The Bears drafted Dominique Robinson out of Miami-Ohio in the fifth round at No. 174 overall, but he’s far from an afterthought. Robinson dropped Trey Lance for a sack in the first quarter and teamed up with Roquan Smith for another in the third.

Lance’s laments

Lance, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 draft, kicked off his first season as the 49ers’ starter with an awful performance: 13 of 28, 164 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, a fumble and a 50.3 rating. Last season, Jimmy Garoppolo put up a 100.6 rating and rushed for two touchdowns to beat the Bears.

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After Sunday’s slippery, shocking 19-10 win against the 49ers, Matt Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. system stood for: He Isn’t Terribly Surprised.

He might be the only one. The Bears pulled the biggest upset of Week 1.

“I’m not surprised,” Eberflus said after his first regular season game as a head coach, at any level. “I thought the guys executed. I thought that they hung in there. That’s what you’ve got to do in the NFL. It’s never going to be perfect. It’s always going to be hard.”

That’s a handy reminder as the Bears embark on a rebuilding season. Sunday wasn’t pretty; their offense thrived on broken plays and defense took advantage of 49ers quarterback Trey Lance starting his third career game.

Eberflus’ debut, though, set the perfect tone for his coaching style. The Bears were sloppier than their playing surface in the first half, but, with rare exception, stuck to the discipline that their new coach preached with religious zeal all offseason long. That’s the way they have to win games this year–they’ll be outgunned most weeks.

The Bears won the turnover battle 2-1. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson punched the ball away from the 49ers at the Bears’ 12 on their first drive. In the fourth quarter, safety Eddie Jackson picked off a pass, allowing the Bears to pad their three-point lead.

In each of Matt Nagy’s last two seasons, the Bears finished top half of the league in most penalty yards against them. Sunday, the Bears had three penalties for 24 yards. The 49ers were flagged 12 times for 99. The Bears gained six first downs by rushing, four by passing — and five via penalty.

“You give yourself a chance,” Eberflus said. “We’ve said from the onset that we’re going to play smart, aggressive football. …

“If you go over the line, you see that, whether it’s hitting after the whistle, pushing, hitting quarterbacks out of bounds, all those types of things that beat you. You beat yourself that way, and we just don’t want to do that.”

The day he was introduced as head coach, Eberflus told his players to “get your track shoes on.” He’s harped on speed and endurance ever since. Sunday, the Bears outscored the 49ers 19-0 in the game’s final 21 minutes.

“Coach always says it’s mental and physical stamina,” quarterback Justin Fields said. “Who can play the longest the hardest? … I think we won this game with mental and physical stamina.”

The victory should reinforce the beliefs built his program around during the offseason — and the practices that Johnson considers the hardest he’s ever experienced.

“It just gives you more want-to to go out there and keep doing it,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to go through hard things and keep waking up having a positive mindset about doing hard things like that. For anybody, that’s a tough thing.

“I feel like it definitely gives us more confidence and more willingness to keep going out there and pushing ourselves mentally and physically, and to buy into what they’re telling us.”

The Bears have taken on the personality of their head coach.

“We just kept pushing as a team,” rookie left tackle Braxton Jones said. “It’s a 12-round fight. Not six rounds. Not eight rounds.”

The same could be said of what might still be a long season for the rebuilding Bears. Eberflus planned to enjoy his first win in typical subdued style — with family and with friends such as former Missouri mentor Gary Pinkel, who stood in the back of the room during his postgame news conference and embraced him afterward.

“I go with the people that love me,” Eberflus said, “and I love them.”

One thing Eberflus wasn’t going to do: the Slip ‘n Slide routine with his players in the north end zone after the final gun.

“There was no belly flop,” he said.

Now that would have been surprising.

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The Chicago Bears got key contributions from their rookies on the defensive side

A big reason for the Chicago Bears’ upset victory over the 49ers this past week was the massive impact they got from their rookie class.

Many people had criticized general manager Ryan Poles’ decision to not draft more offense this year, but the performances these rookies had today should put those criticisms to rest.

The most noticeable player was safety Jaquan Brisker who was all over the field for the Bears’ defense. Brisker finished the game with three tackles, one tackle for loss, and a big fumble recovery. Many people were unhappy with the Brisker pick, but he showed today that he will be a big playmaker for this defense.

Another rookie who made a big impact today was the Bears’ top pick, Kyler Gordon. Although the cornerback did have one blown coverage early, the second-round pick still finished with five tackles and one tackle for loss. Gordon looked like a noticeable upgrade in the slot, and he could be even better if he cleans up some coverage mistakes.

The last rookie who made a big impact for the Bears was defensive end, Dominique Robinson. Despite only playing defense for one year during his college career, the fifth-round pick was able to get 1.5 sacks in his NFL debut. Robinson is an athletic freak so it’s exciting to see how good he can be as he continues to learn his position.

After starting the season strong, many people will be eager to see if these three can contribute like this consistently all year. The Chicago Bears drafted 11 players for their roster, so it will be interesting which other picks will step up as well.

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Of all the possible outcomes following a brutal first half by the Bears on Sunday, the most preposterous was the one that had the Bears winning because of their sad offense. In second place was any outcome in which the Bears won, whether because of defense, special teams or asteroid.

The most-likely ending to the rainy afternoon figured to be no progress from quarterback Justin Fields, an inevitable loss to the 49ers and public shaming.

But something strange and wonderful happened at Soldier Field, something that surely seemed impossible to anyone who had watched that abysmal first half of football. A broken play led to a 51-touchdown connection between Fields and Dante Pettis. That led to a turbo-charged awakening by the Bears’ offense. And that led to a 19-10 upset in the bayou by the lakeshore.

It was Matt Eberflus’ debut as head coach, and if he chooses to remember it in its totality, he’ll be able to look back on the complete darkness of the first half followed by the bright light of the second half followed by a glorious downpour. If he chooses to purge the first half from his memory, no one will blame him.

It’s difficult to do justice to the first half’s miserableness. Fields was 3 of 9 for 19 yards. He threw a bad interception and probably deserved to throw another. His passer rating was 2.8. The 49ers had 247 total yards to the Bears’ 68. This was a horse with two broken legs, and the humane thing would have been to put it down.

Oh, yeah, and this: On third-and-4 from his own 34 in the third quarter, new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy called a run play with the Bears trailing 10-0. No gain, but lots of boos at Soldier Field and lots of comparisons on social media to former head coach Matt Nagy, who had been guilty of similar crimes.

Everything looked the same, which is to say nothing looked different, which is to say, no, not this again. Just like last season, Fields wouldn’t have a chance because of his teammates and because of himself.

But then … something. That failed third-and-4 call? It was wiped out by a San Francisco facemask penalty. A few players later, under pressure from an extremely talented, extremely aggressive 49ers defense, Fields abandoned a play and scrambled to his left. It was there that he noticed Pettis by himself on the other side of the field.

“The vision by Justin to see that and throw it back there was a great play,” Eberflus said. “And that’s the kind of plays he can make. That’s what makes him dangerous because he can throw on-schedule throws, but, man, he’s got the off-schedule throws, too.”

“The ball felt like it was in the air forever,” Pettis said.

The result was that 51-yard TD play and a workable 10-7 deficit. Still, to the unbelievers (and you know who you and I are), the thought was, “Can an NFL offense be geared around broken plays, miscues by the opposing defense and a soggy field?”

O, ye and me of little faith.

From there, an energized offense took advantage of the hard work by the Bears’ defense, which would include an interception by the formerly missing Eddie Jackson. Fields hit receiver Equanimeous St. Brown over the middle for an 18-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. It gave the Bears a lead they’d never surrender, but more importantly, it gave the rest of us a look at what appeared to be an operational offense.

All well and good, but that first touchdown …

“That was kind of the play that changed the momentum of the whole game,” Fields said. “Once that play happened, that just kind of started everything else.”

The stunning victory was partly a result of San Francisco’s lack of discipline, which was weird because a lack of discipline was the Bears’ thing during Nagy’s tenure. The 49ers had 12 penalties for 99 yards. The Bears had three for 24. One of them was by holder Trenton Gill for using a towel to wipe down the wet grass before kicker Cairo Santos attempted a second-quarter field goal. I like to think of it as one last tip of the visor to Nagy.

Fields finished 8 of 17 for 121 yards and two touchdowns, with a rating of 85.7. Not great numbers, but after that first half, worthy of early Comeback Stat of the Year consideration — if, you know, there were such a category.

There’s work to be done. The offensive line played well in the second half but looked like it was going to be responsible for Fields’ early death in the first 30 minutes of action. And he needs to improve his decision-making. The physical attributes are there, but that’s not the most important thing about being a quarterback (see Tom Brady).

For one day, though, who cares? The 1-0 Bears, a team predicted to finish at the bottom of the NFC North, beat a Super Bowl contender.

“I’m not surprised,” Eberflus said of the victory.

Well, that makes at least one of you.

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Justin Fields helped the Bears capitalize on sloppy play from the San Francisco 49ers by throwing two touchdown passes in the Bears’ opening season win.

Justin Fields took a step towards growth and confidence by keeping his eyes down the field and making key touchdowns.

The Bears were able to play a level of smart and disciplined football rarely seen in the Matt Nagy era committing only 3 penalties for 24 yards.  The 49ers meanwhile had two turnovers, a key interception late in the game that allowed the Bears to put away the game.

Justin Fields thoroughly outplayed Trey Lance.  Fields didn’t make many mistakes or errant throws, whereas Lance never found his rhythm.  The Bears’ defensive line consistently got pressure on Lance whether it was Robert Quinn, rookie Dominique Robinson or Justin Jones from the 3-technique spot.  The Bears had two sacks, four QB hits, and four tackles for a loss.

It was a clear buy-in from the franchise to Matt Eberflus’ ideology.  The Bears hustled to the football consistently and as a result, good things happened.  The Bears played with intelligence with only three penalties.

Because the Bears hustled consistently a broken play led to a touchdown pass to Dante Pettis.

Justin Fields then led the Bears on a 10-play 84-yard touchdown drive.  The Bears gained 64 yards on their own and received an extra 20 yards from the 49ers in penalties.  On the drive, Fields completed four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown to Equanimeous St. Brown.

Because Luke Getsy stubbornly stuck to the running game, Khalil Herbert barreled into the endzone for the game-clinching touchdown.  Sticking with the running game was a key factor in slowing down the 49ers disruptive pass rush.  The 49ers couldn’t get their pass rush going in the second half the same way they did early on.

Everything went right after everything seemed to go wrong in the first half.  The difference seemed to be the fact that the Bears were able to settle down, control their emotions, and focus.  The 49ers completely on the other hand unraveled.

As a result, the Bears stole a victory no one had planned on them getting.  The biggest upset of the opening week of the NFL season could be enough momentum to catapult a season that exceeds most national prognosticators’ expectations.  No the Bears don’t become an immediate playoff favorite, but they can prove that anything is possible on “any given Sunday.”

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