Larry Borom blocks against the 49ers on Sunday. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Bears right tackle Larry Borom made his first career start.

Takeaways from the Bears’ 33-22 loss to the 49ers on Sunday:

Borom in

Rather than start Elijah Wilkinson at right tackle after he missed one game because of coronavirus protocol, the Bears turned to rookie Larry Borom for his first start one day after bringing him off injured reserve.

The fifth-round pick practiced three times last week after returning from an ankle injury suffered in Week 1.

“Just pushing myself mentally and physically to get back in that game shape,” he said. “I’ve just been trying to do a lot while I was hurt to just try and maintain what I can.”

Borom was solid in his first start, and figures to keep the spot until Germain Ifedi comes off IR.

PAT no good

Cairo Santos made three field goals to increase his field goal record to 38-straight, the longest active streak in the league. He missed a critical extra point in the fourth quarter, though — it was only his third miss in the last four years, which spans 85 extra-point tries.

Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor speculated that Santos hit his kick too high, allowing the ball to get pushed by the wind. He said he has confidence in the veteran.

“Do I think he’s still going to make kicks? He is,” he said.

TD, JJ

Tight end Jesse James’ eight-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter was his second-straight at Soldier Field. Before Sunday, his last touchdown came Dec. 6 as a member of the Lions.

He became just the second Bears tight end to catch a touchdown this year, joining Jesper Horsted.

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Bears special teams coordinator Chris Tabor was in control as the Bears’ acting head coach in place of Matt Nagy on Sunday against the 49ers at Soldier Field. “I was extremely comfortable,” Tabor said. | Nam Y. Huh/AP

Special-teams coordinator Chris Tabor was able to put his “own spin on it” as acting head coach with Nagy in coronavirus protocol. But after a fast start, the Bears were stymied in the second half in a 33-22 loss to the 49ers.

Asked about the Bears having only 10 players on the field before a critical defensive play of the goal line in the third quarter Sunday — 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo scored on the ensuing play — acting head coach Chris Tabor was direct, resolute and succinct. He didn’t have to see the film.

”We did have 10 men on at the time,” Tabor said. ”I knew it was gonna be a tight ballgame. And in the second half, those timeouts are gold bricks to me. Sometimes you’ve gotta weigh where they’re at on the field and roll the dice. I elected to roll the dice.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Coach Matt Nagy missed the Bears’ 33-22 loss to the 49ers at Soldier Field because of coronavirus protocols, and Tabor’s tidy, cogent postgame news conference was one of the few times his absence was obvious.

Other than that, it was business as usual for the Bears. A promising start, missed opportunities to take control, a signature play by Justin Fields to provide hope and a defensive collapse in the second half added up to a third consecutive loss that was pretty typical of the Nagy era.

With Nagy unable to communicate with his coaches while watching the game in quarantine at an undisclosed location — per NFL rules — he handed the reins to his special-teams coordinator with authority. Tabor wasn’t just a figurehead and didn’t act like one. He took Nagy’s message to heart.

”Coach and I talked a lot, obviously, throughout the week,” Tabor said. ”He said: ‘You’ll put your spin on it. You’ll know what to do. You’ll have the speed of the game.’

”I will say this: There’s analytics, and you do listen to analytics. But at the end of the day, there’s a gut feeling. You’re going down a river and you have to figure out, ‘Are we gonna go right or are we gonna go left?’ There’s a lot of things that go into that that you can’t come up with the answer on Wednesday or Thursday.

”I thought we played in the flow of the game. At the end of the day, it was a tale of two halves.”

For one game, an NFL team can survive on autopilot without its coach. And, as expected, Nagy was and wasn’t missed.

For his part, receiver Darnell Mooney said he noticed Nagy’s absence.

”Definitely,” Mooney said. ”His vocalness and just being able to pick up everybody energy-wise. He definitely was missed, for sure.”

Quarterback Justin Fields said Nagy texted him before the game.

”It was a long message,” Fields said. ”Just know it was inspirational. That’s all you need to know.”

Once the game began, however, Fields was too focused to think about it.

”You can’t really let it impact your day, can’t focus on that,” Fields said of Nagy’s absence. ”He’s not going to help us . . . at home. You have to focus on who’s here and focus on now.

”Of course, it was tough not having Coach. He texted me this morning. I texted him back. He texted me after the game, and I didn’t see what he said yet. But it was pretty much the same thing for me.”

In one way, Nagy couldn’t win Sunday. Even if the Bears’ ever-stagnant offense suddenly blossomed without him, it wouldn’t be a great look. And for what it’s worth, the Bears’ offense was pretty efficient and error-free in the early going.

The Bears scored on their first three possessions for only the second time in Nagy’s four seasons on Fields’ eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jesse James and two field goals by Cairo Santos.

And Fields had a breakout game as a runner. He gained 103 yards on 10 carries, including a spectacular 22-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-one play in the fourth quarter that cut the 49ers’ lead to 23-22 with 9:32 left.

It was Tabor’s call to go for it, even before the third-and-six play that set it up.

”I knew if it was the right down-and-distance, we were gonna go for it, yes,” Tabor said.

In the end, Tabor and the Bears suffered another loss. Business as usual.

”Honestly, the difference was he just wasn’t there in person,” Tabor said. ”But he was in the meetings. I visited Coach last night. I visited with him this morning. I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win for him. That hurts.”

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Deebo Samuel’s 50-yard catch against Kindle Vildor shortly before halftime led to a 49ers field goal. | AP Photos

The 49ers are a middling offense, but did whatever they wanted against the Bears’ supposedly elite defense

On the Bears’ last stand Sunday, with the game and perhaps their season at stake, the defense crumbled. The 49ers needed to kill the clock, and everyone at Soldier Field knew they were about to run.

And it didn’t matter.

Like everything for the 49ers on Sunday, this was easy. Rookie running back Elijah Mitchell swerved by nearly every Bears defender for 39 yards to set up the game-icing field goal as the Bears fell 33-22 to a team that hadn’t won in more than a month.

Without Khalil Mack and Eddie Jackson, the Bears allowed the 49ers offense to look better than it had all season. They had a scoring opportunity on every possession, failing only when they missed a 48-yard field goal on the opening drive.

“We didn’t get the stops like we needed to — there’s no doubt about that,” said special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who filled in for coach Matt Nagy. “You can’t argue that fact.

“I’m still gonna jump in a foxhole with all those guys and we’re gonna work to get better. I know that’s big coach-speak, but we’re a team, we’re a family. We’re hurting right now but we gotta bounce back.”

It is coach-speak. And it’s pretty much what Nagy would’ve said.

And it’s meaningless.

If the Bears don’t have a world-class defense, what exactly do they have?

On a day when the offense was upbeat and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks said it was time to “appreciate them for stepping up and putting up points,” the Bears managed 22 points — still below the league-wide average. That only qualifies as a lot if their defense is overwhelming.

It was the opposite. The same way the Bears always enjoy piling up points against the Lions, the 49ers used this game to make everything about their 20th-ranked offense look spectacular.

They set their season high in total yardage at 467, which was the most the Bears have allowed in regulation since 2015. They ran at will, led by Mitchell’s 137 yards — highest against the Bears in nearly two years — and a touchdown on just 18 carries. And Jimmy Garoppolo looked like an all-pro on a day in which the Bears never touched him and couldn’t stay within flailing distance of his receivers.

Garoppolo completed 17 of 28 passes for 322 yards and ran for two touchdowns. With Mack out, the Bears had zero sacks and zero quarterback hits.

For those unfamiliar with Garoppolo’s work, by the way, he’s not a runner and typically goes years between rushing touchdowns. But Sunday, he ran two yards for a score late in the third quarter to bring the 49ers within 16-15 and put them up 30-22 on his five-yard run with 6:34 left.

While the Bears must’ve been surprised by Garoppolo’s wheels, they had to have seen Deebo Samuel coming. He went into the game as one of four players in the NFL averaging more than 100 yards receiving and lit up the Bears for the second-highest total of his career at 171 on six catches.

He had a 50-yarder over the top of cornerback Kindle Vildor with 25 seconds left in the first half that led to a field goal and went 83 yards on a screen pass in the third to set up Garoppolo’s touchdown.

Extraneously, but noteworthy nonetheless, there was a play in between the 83-yarder and Garoppolo’s run when the Bears had just 10 defenders on the field.

The screen pass to Samuel was essentially a surrender by the 49ers on third-and-19, but they thoroughly outplayed the Bears. It was near-perfect blocking, and after Samuel slipped a tackle attempt by defensive lineman Mario Edwards and sprinted up the sideline, it took a desperate lunge by safety DeAndre Houston-Carson to force him out of bounds.

Houston-Carson took over for Jackson after he injured his hamstring on the second play of the game and did not return. Jackson had played every defensive snap this season before getting hurt.

The Bears tried to paint this as an aberration, but they can’t afford those when their offense is averaging 15.4 points per game.

“Ebbs and flows of the season, man,” Hicks said. “You’re gonna have your ups and downs. Sometimes you’re gonna get hit in the face. You just can’t sit on the [losses] too long.”

It’s more than just an inevitable speed bump. It’s the check-engine light. And if the floundering 49ers can hang 30-plus points on the Bears, anybody can.

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Khalil Herbert had 20 carries for 68 yards before the injury. | David Banks/AP

Herbert took a knee to the head and was down for a few minutes before heading to the locker room. Damien Williams, however, hurt his knee and was out for the game. Plus, a look at the pass-rush slump, third-down success and Allen Robinson’s quiet season.

The Bears better hope they have more untapped talent at running back, because their depth chart is running thin again.

Already without starter David Montgomery because of a knee injury, the Bears lost Damien Williams and Khalil Herbert during their 33-22 loss to the 49ers. Herbert was cleared to return after taking a knee to the head, but Williams was out for the game with a knee injury.

For a spell before Herbert came back, Ryan Nall was the only available running back.

Herbert finished with 72 yards on 23 carries and has averaged 86 per game while Montgomery has been out.

“I’m feeling good, a little sore,” Herbert said. “Tough loss, tough loss, but we’ve just gotta regroup.”

Montgomery went on injured reserve in Week 5 with a sprained knee and is eligible to return to practice anytime. If he doesn’t play against the Steelers next week, he would have an extra week to recover before the Bears’ ensuing game against the Ravens on Nov 21.

The Bears also have Artavis Pierce and Chris Thompson on their practice squad. Tarik Cohen has been on the Physically Unable to Perform list all season, and the team has given no timetable on his return.

Pass rush slump

This was the second consecutive game in which the Bears didn’t have a sack. They hadn’t been shut out twice in a row since 2017.

The upside is that the team did not put star outside linebacker Khalil Mack on injured reserve Saturday, which had been under consideration. Mack has been playing through a sprained foot since the Week 3 game against the Browns and has barely practiced.

If the Bears had opted for IR, Mack would’ve been out until at least the Thanksgiving game against the Lions.

Without him, the Bears relied on Robert Quinn to lead the pass rush. But the key to the defense leading the NFL in sacks through the first seven games was that offenses were forced to deal with Mack and Quinn simultaneously, unlike the last few seasons when Mack faced constant double- and triple-teams.

Robinson quiet again

Allen Robinson, the Bears’ top wide receiver each of the last three seasons, was targeted four times and had three catches for 21 yards. With 26 catches for 271 yards and a touchdown, he is on pace for his worst statistical performance since his rookie season.

Robinson was targeted 11 times in the season opener, but has averaged 4.7 passes per game since. The Bears targeted him 8.9 times per game from 2018 through ’20.

Second-year receiver Darnell Mooney leads the Bears with 53 targets, 33 catches and 409 yards. Robinson is second with 44 targets.

Robinson is playing on the franchise tag this season and will be an unrestricted free agent in March.

Third-down success

The Bears had their best third-down performance of the season, converting 8 of 15 and cleaning up one failed attempt with Justin Fields‘ 22-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-one with 9:32 left. They were near the bottom of the NFL with a 31% success rate through seven games.

It was just the sixth time under coach Matt Nagy that they converted more than half of the third downs.

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A police car sits outside a house Sunday evening where more than 12 people were wounded, two of them fatally, in a shooting early Sunday at a Halloween party in Joliet Township. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Gunfire erupted early Sunday near a DJ booth that was set up in the backyard of a home, authorities said. Witnesses reported that two gunmen opened fire “from an elevated position on a porch looking down over the crowd” of more than 200 people.

More than 12 people were wounded, two of them fatally, in a shooting early Sunday at a Halloween party in Will County, authorities said.

The shooting erupted about 12:40 a.m. near a DJ booth that was set up in the backyard of a home in the 1000 block of East Jackson Street in Joliet Township, according to a statement from the Will County sheriff’s office.

Witnesses told detectives that two gunmen opened fire “from an elevated position on a porch looking down over the crowd” of more than 200 people.

A patrol sergeant who was in the area heard as many as 12 gunshots ring out near Jackson and Walnut streets and began investigating, the sheriff’s office said. The sergeant then saw over 100 people rushing east on Jackson, and he was directed to the home.

Police officials ultimately found over a dozen people suffering from gunshot wounds in the backyard and at nearby residences, the sheriff’s office said. As authorities were investigating, additional shots were heard in the area.

Two of the victims succumbed to their wounds, while four others suffered injuries that were thought to be life-threatening, the sheriff’s office said.

Those who died hadn’t been identified by Sunday evening because their families hadn’t yet been notified.

News of the Halloween gathering had spread on social media, attracting a larger crowd than what the organizers had expected, according to Elizabeth Arias, a neighbor who said she was a relative of the people who threw the party.

Several neighbors knew something wasn’t right when they saw parked cars lined both sides of the streets in what is typically a quiet neighborhood. At least three people said they had called the police to report loud music and ask for crowd control. The party organizers also called the police, according to Arias, who spoke to them earlier in the day.

Police arrived but were “just out here waiting for them to leave,” Arias said.

“This could’ve been avoided,” said Arias, whose son and niece were at the get-together.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Police tape blocks access to the house where more than 12 people were wounded, two of them fatally, in a shooting early Sunday at a Halloween party near the 1000 block of Jackson Street in Joliet Township.

Arias’ son told her that organizers had shut the music off and told people that the police were on their way in an attempt to get people to leave. But that didn’t happen.

Another woman who lived near the event said she heard the gunshots as she laid in bed. When she got to her porch she saw a chaotic scene of a stampede of young people running, leaving behind crushed red cups and beer cans.

“It was crazy, kids running everywhere screaming. But police were here, they were on it,” the woman said.

Arias and her neighbor took in some of the rattled partygoers who were seeking shelter.

“You could hear more shots being fired,” Arias said. People were running through a wooded area near the home, using their cellphone’s flashlights to see where they were going. Some even jumped over a fence. “It was so scary … It was something out of the movies.”

Arias said she had never seen anything like what happened Sunday morning.

“That’s why I refuse to move because it’s so quiet here,” she said.

Another woman said she had moved to the area three years ago from the West Side of Chicago to get away from gun violence.

“This is the first time” something like this happened, she said. “This is crazy.”

One of the suspected shooters was described as a Hispanic male with facial hair and a medium build who was seen wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, a black flat-billed hat and dark pants, the sheriff’s office said.

The other suspect, who donned a ski mask, was described as a male — possibly Hispanic or Black of a light complexion — with a medium build, the sheriff’s office said. He was seen wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt.

The sheriff’s office is seeking further assistance identifying the shooters. Anyone with information, including cellphone photos or video of the party, should contact Detective Danielle Strohm at (815) 727-8574 or [email protected].

Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can submit a tip to the sheriff’s office’s website or contact Will County Crime Stoppers at (800) 323-6734 or its website.

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Dr. Kai Bartley (E.R. Fightmaster) is working on a Parkinson’s Disease cure in Minnesota on “Grey’s Anatomy.” | ABC

Dr. Kai Bartley, portrayed by E.R. Fightmaster, will be a recurring character on the ABC hit.

A former Second City performer who turned up on “Grey’s Anatomy” last month has become a recurring cast member, the first non-binary actor to play a doctor on the long-running series.

E.R. Fightmaster plays Dr. Kai Bartley, a Minnesota-based Parkinson’s Disease researcher whom Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) met last month. The character, also non-binary, hit it off with Amelia and is scheduled to return on the Nov. 11 episode.

A DePaul grad, Fightmaster starred in and co-wrote the 2018 Second City e.t.c. show “Gaslight District,” playing (among other roles) a weird stylist at a Sport Clips-style salon and an alien singing about a utopian, LGBTQ-friendly planet.

(C) Todd Rosenberg Photography
E.R. Fightmaster (center) was the Second City e.t.c. show “Gaslight District” with Sayjal Joshi (from left), Alan Linic, Andrew Knox, Jasbir Singh Vazquez and Katie Kershaw.

Fightmaster also performed with the team Baby Wine at The Annoyance and with Boom Chicago, the Amsterdam comedy theater that does Chicago-style improv for the Dutch. They appeared on the locally made Showtime series “Work in Progress” and the Hulu show “Shrill.”

Fightmaster also is half of the music duo Twin.

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Socorro Ruiz | Chicago police

Socorro Ruiz was last seen in the 2400 block of South Hamlin Avenue and he may be confused and in need of medical attention, Chicago police said.

A 76-year-old man reported missing was last seen Saturday in Little Village.

Socorro Ruiz was last seen in the 2400 block of South Hamlin Avenue and he may be confused and in need of medical attention, Chicago police said.

Ruiz was wearing a baseball cap with the work “Mexico” written in the the cap, a black beanie, a navy blue sweater and navy blue pants, police said.

He frequents the area near 31st Street and Sawyer Avenue and is often seen pushing a shopping cart and collecting scrap metal, according to police.

Anyone with information is asked to call Area Four SVU detectives at 312-746-8255.

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A Chicago police sergeant is facing a felony charge after shooting at carjackers who stole her SUV Saturday nigh in suburban Evergreen Park. | Sun-Times file photo

Oneta Sampson Carney, 58, allegedly opened fire Saturday evening when a team of thieves stole her Toyota 4Runner as she and her husband were loading groceries in a Sam’s Club parking lot.

A Chicago police sergeant was hit with a felony charge after she allegedly opened fire when a team of thieves made off with her SUV Saturday evening in suburban Evergreen Park.

Oneta Sampson Carney, 58, was charged with a single count of reckless discharge of a firearm, according to a bond proffer that identifies her as an off-duty Chicago cop.

She was ordered held on $5,000 bail during her initial court hearing Sunday.

About 6:45 p.m. Saturday, Sampson Carney and her husband were loading groceries into her 2016 Toyota 4Runner in the parking lot of a Sam’s Club store at 9400 S. Western Ave., prosecutors said in the proffer. As the 4Runner sat parked and running with its hatch open, three males approached it.

Two of the suspects asked the couple if they needed help while their accomplice jumped inside the SUV and drove off, prosecutors said. The two others then ran off as Carney Sampson and her husband gave chase.

The driver then stopped as one of his accomplices ran toward the SUV, prosecutors said. That’s when Sampson Carney allegedly fired a single shot using a 9mm handgun that struck the ground behind the SUV as it took off.

At the time, children and other people were present in the parking lot and another vehicle was driving down the same aisle, prosecutors said.

The thieves “made good on their escape,” prosecutors said, and none of them displayed a weapon or made any threats to Sampson Carney or her husband. The incident was caught on video surveillance.

Sampson Carney called 911 to report the theft but didn’t report that she’d discharged her weapon until officers arrived at the scene, prosecutors said. Officers then recovered a shell casing and Sampson Carney’s gun, which was one round short of being fully loaded.

The crime news blog CWB Chicago first reported that Sampson Carney had been charged. The outlet also reported that her private attorney announced in court that her client is a 19-year veteran of the police force who currently serves as a sergeant.

Her full name listed in the proffer doesn’t appear in city records, but a sergeant named Oneta Sampson does, earning an annual salary of $118,998.

A police spokesperson said it was unclear whether the department had been informed of the arrest and didn’t respond to questions about the differing names.

Sampson Carney and her attorney, Donna Dowd, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Investigators believe the stolen SUV was later recovered Saturday night in the Loop, a Chicago police source said.

Chicago police previously reported that officers observed a white Toyota 4Runner that matched the description of a vehicle that was hijacked in Evergreen Park. The 4Runner ultimately came to a stop about 8:35 p.m. after rear-ending another vehicle in the 200 block of West Wacker Drive. Six suspects, including a 26-year-old man and five juveniles, were then taken into custody after attempting to flee.

In a statement, Evergreen Park police said multiple suspects, including several juveniles, were arrested by Chicago police in connection to the earlier incident in the southwest suburb but didn’t provide any other details.

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Justin Fields throws against the 49ers on Sunday. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Justin Fields finally became what Bears fans had dreamed him to be, looking at times like the fastest and most gifted player on the field Sunday.

The Bears walked onto the field Sunday without coach Matt Nagy and outside linebacker Khalil Mack. They left it with a playmaker.

Rookie quarterback Justin Fields was in one moment efficient and another breathtaking, leading the Bears in rushing and awe-inspiring moments. That might not take the sting out of a 33-22 loss to the 49ers, a game the Bears had to have to discuss the playoffs with a straight face. Halfway through the season, they’re 3-5 and in the middle of a three-game losing streak.

The second half of the year, then, will be all about the development of Fields. Sunday, he gave the Bears more to dream on than at any point this season. Fields went 19-for-27 for 175 yards and a touchdown — an eight-yard laser to a diving Jesse James while sprinting left.

His 84.6 passer rating was almost 20 points higher before he threw his only interception down 11 with just less than two minutes to play. Because he converted 6-of-8 third downs in the first half, the Bears didn’t punt until the two-minute mark of the third quarter.

He ran 10 times for 103 yards, the most for a Bears quarterback in one game since Bobby Douglass had 100 in 1973. Stats don’t do Fields justice, though. His 22-yard touchdown run with 9:32 to play and the Bears down seven will be replayed on the Soldier Field scoreboard — and maybe even the one in Arlington Heights — for a decade.

Acting head coach Chris Tabor — filling in for Matt Nagy, who has the coronavirus — decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the 49ers’ 22. Fields took the snap from under center and rolled right, looking to dump the ball quickly in the flat to running back Khalil Herbert. The 49ers’ were blitzing from that side, though, and defensive end Arik Armstead was waiting for Fields.

Fields hit the brakes, though, and slipped underneath the diving defender. Still seven yards short of the first-down marker, Fields planted his right foot on the right hash and cut left past another diving defender. He ran parallel to the line of scrimmage and turned upfield once he reached the numbers.

“I just saw the lanes open up …” he said. “It was just on instinct.”

Left tackle Jason Peters’ backside block gave him room to run up the sideline and, finally, past the first-down marker. Darnell Mooney’s block of Josh Norman at the 15 allowed Fields to duck back inside and run, untouched, for the 22-yard touchdown. It was the longest run of his career.

“He was going back to pee-wee days on that one,” receiver Darnell Mooney said.

Fields, whom the Bears have praised as playing even-keeled in good times and bad, knew in the moment that what he’d done was extraordinary.

“I’m not gonna lie, that was awesome,” Fields said.

In explaining the play, Tabor hit on precisely what could make Fields special — he has the ability to erase the Bears’ many flaws with his own athleticism.

“He made nothing into something, and got us going there,” he said.

Fields flashed excitement all game long. On the first drive of the second half, Fields faced third-and-18 from the 49ers’ 14. He rolled left, stepped over a diving lunge from Nick Bosa and seemed trapped in by all-pro linebacker Fred Warner, who was rushing from the left.

Fields performed a pirouette back toward the middle of the field, escaping for a five-yard gain before running out of bounds. A defensive hold on the play gave the Bears a first down, though they had to settle for a field goal.

“Although it wasn’t a crazy gain, it just says, or it tells the defense that, ‘Man, you’ve got to really work on tackling this guy,'” defensive tackle Akiem Hicks said. “Maybe he slows them down a little bit, so it gives you other options.”

Just as Fields got better, though, the Bears defense got worse. The usually-stead unit allowed the 49ers to score on the final seven possessions of the game, not counting the kneeldown. After Fields’ touchdown run, Cairo Santos missed the extra point, leaving the Bears down one with 9:32 to play. Rolling Meadows High School alum Jimmy Garpollo needed five plays — four of which were first downs — to march the 49ers 75 yards. The quarterback scored on a five-yard run to go up eight.

On the ensuing drive, Fields took an unconscionable sack on third-and-10 from the Bears’ 40, force the Bears to punt. The 49ers bled two-and-a-half minutes off the clock and kicked a field goal to seal the game.

For maybe the first time all year, though, Fields’ exhilarating plays outnumbered the rookie mistakes.

“I’m not a quarterback analyst,” Hicks said. “But I will say this: He’s elite. Like, it’s fun to watch. Right?”

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Chris Tabor, filling in for head coach Matt Nagy, talks with an official during the Bears’ loss to the 49ers on Sunday. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

In which the head coach reveals what’s what about Chris Tabor, the guy who filled in for him Sunday.

This is Matt Nagy reporting to you from an undisclosed location. My Bears — my Bears, OK? — just lost 33-22 to the 49ers. Because of COVID-19 protocols, I was not allowed to coach the guys today. As many of you already know, I have chosen to keep my whereabouts a secret. The reason for my whereabouts being a secret is also a secret.

All I can do is promise you that the decision to go underground is “real” and that the “why” of it eventually will come out.

I might be somewhere far away — or am I? — but I hear what people are saying: The Bears’ offense sure looked better with special teams coordinator Chris Tabor filling in as head coach! Allow me to let all you geniuses in on a little secret: You think Tabor invented the use of tight ends? You think Tabor had an epiphany to call set run plays for quarterback Justin Fields?

If I tell Tabor I need a cup of coffee, I don’t need to tell him about the cream and sugar. It’s his job to know. I’m up here on the organizational chart. He’s down there — I’m pointing to my knee, but you can’t see that. If you could, we’d have a security breach.

You people are forgetting that I helped design the game plan during the week, and you’re clearly dismissing the possibility that all the good plays were my doing, which, by the way, they were. And let me throw in a third thing: Ever heard of Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility? Can you say with 100% certainty that an unseeable me wasn’t whispering in Tabor’s ear on the sidelines? No, you can’t.

The easiest thing in life is to take the most obvious route. It’s why in the first seven games of the season I didn’t take advantage of Fields’ amazing ability to run with the ball. In other words, I knew that opponents knew what I was going to do, so why would I do that, even if it were the most prudent path?

Sometimes I just shake my head and say to myself, “I love Being You, Matt!”

But I am willing to adapt. So that wild touchdown run by Fields in the fourth quarter today, that 22-yard, crazy-legged, defender-abusing thing of beauty on fourth and 1?

All my idea.

That’s right. We had a team meeting earlier in the week, and even though I couldn’t take part in person because of COVID, I could tell via Zoom that the guys were getting even closer to each other than they were before, which I didn’t think was possible. Camaraderie was through the roof. Anyway, I distinctly remember saying, “Let’s run that play where Justin, under extreme pressure, somehow avoids everybody on the other team on his way to the end zone.” There was no response to my suggestion on the Zoom meeting, just lots of blank looks from players and coaches. I banged my headphones on the desk and yelled, “Are these things working?” Nothing.

But the proof is in the results, folks. Fields rushed for 103 yards and that touchdown today. He threw for another. The offense was eight for 15 on third-down attempts. And we — yes, we — scored on five of our first six possessions.

Some of you are saying that this game was a referendum on my abilities as a coach and that a decent effort by the offense against an injury riddled San Francisco defense means I should be canned. OK, I’ll play your game. Tabor should be named head coach because Fields threw for a measly 175 yards? If he throws for 175 yards when I’m coaching, the city wants to run me out of town!

What’s that? Some of you think Tabor resembled a veteran head coach on the sidelines? Who do you think taught him to look so assertive while going for it on fourth down? That’s my firm jaw! That’s my steely stare! I’m 30,000 feet over Nebraska, holding the briefcase with the nuclear codes, and this bozo is stealing Matt Nagy!

“I was extremely comfortable,” Tabor said in his postgame press conference. “At the end of the day, we’re football coaches and leading men to do something and get something accomplished.”

Yeah, you’re a little too comfortable, buddy. Start cleaning out your desk. It’s probably filled with kicking tees anyway.

Wide receiver Darnell Mooney said Tabor was “energizing” on the sidelines, and even though I’m taking his quote completely out of context, Mooney is gone, too!

Fields told reporters that a text I sent him before the game was “inspirational.” All that does is play into the perception of me as the cheerleader-in-chief. I ceded the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor a few weeks ago, and no matter how much I try to tell people that the offense is mine, that I’m its creator, it seems to go in one helmet ear hole and out the other.

It’s clear to me that I have a lot of work to do in the swaying of public opinion. I’m not who people think I am. Or where they think I am. Wherever that is.

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