49ers-Bears final score: Anatomy of a collapse

The San Francisco 49ers put on a fairly brutal collapse in the second of their Week 2 contest against the Chicago Bears. The 49ers took a 17-0 lead late in the second quarter. The Bears followed that by putting together 7-play 80-yard drive in 2:09 to cut the lead to 17-7 before the end of the half.

The 49ers kicked a field goal on their first drive of the third quarter, but things quickly fell apart from there. I posted Pro Football Reference's Win Probability graph for the game. You can see the anatomy of a collapse right there. I'm having trouble with the embeddable version, which allows you to scroll over specific points to see how it changes. Head to the box score page to play around with that.

Jim Harbaugh talked about how there were lots of fingerprints on this collapse. I don't think we can point to one specific moment as the game-changer, but I did come across one interesting stat related to Jay Cutler.

Before the big hit from Quinton Dial, Jay Cutler was 8-of-18 passing for 38 yards. After the hit, Cutler was 15-of-16 for 138 and 4 TDs.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 15, 2014

Quinton Dial absolutely drilled Cutler, and maybe that happened to shake out Cutler's cobwebs. After that hit, Cutler completed two passes for 26 yards and a touchdown to cut the lead to 17-7. I imagine it makes more sense that this was right before the half, and the Bears made halftime adjustments that the 49ers could not counter. Either way, Jay Cutler was impressive in the second half, and the 49ers were not.

You can check out the full box score, including the interactive win probability graph HERE.