Madden 16 Simulation Saturday: 49ers vs. Bears

The good news about this simulation? I doubt we'll be left with a blowout loss and crossing the 50 yard line twice in a game. The bad news? I still don't think Madden will give the 49ers any respect. In any case, let's see how this turns out in video game land.

Note: Carlos Hyde, Garrett Celek, and Marques Wilson are removed from the simulation

1st Quarter:

The 49ers received and in the first drive went across the 50 (yes, this is grounds for dancing) thanks to a coulple of nice passes to Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith. Unfortunately, at the 35, Blaine Gabbert took a sack and the Niners were forced to punt.

The Bears were unable to get anything going and were left with a 3 and out. This was a common theme for the quarter. The Bears punted, the 49ers punted, and the Bears punted again. Save for the nice 30 yard pass to Torrey Smith, the 49ers again punted back to the Bears to close out the quarter. If this sounds somewhat lame, that's because that's how this game is so far.

2nd Quarter:

The Bears finally woke up and Jay Cutler went to work with a couple of nice passes to Josh Bellamy and Alshon Jeffery for 19 and 24 yards respectivly. When the running game didn't work, Cutler kept chucking the ball down and finally hit Jeffery for the first Bears touchdown. The 49ers secondary looked awful on that drive.

Score: 7-0, Bears

The 49ers recevied and began a NICE rushing drive with Shaun Draughn and a few bootlegs by Blaine Gabbert, taking 4 or 5 yards a clip. Not a single pass was thrown until the team hit the 50, to which Vance McDonald caught a nice ball in the middle of the field for 14 yards on 3rd and 3. The drive attempted to morph into the Vance McDonald show with another nice 11 yard reception, however on 3rd and 10, he dropped a crucial pass to force the 49ers to kick, and make, a field goal.

Score 7-3, Bears

The Bears went 3 and out in an ugly drive that kept them dead set on the 20 yard line, where the drive began. Once getting the ball back, Blaine Gabbert went nuts through the air, nailing Torrey Smith and Vance McDonald for big gains. Once the team went to the 10 yard line, the offense stalled, again. The holding penalty didn't help much either. Once again the team had to settle for a field goal.

Score 7-6, Bears

Again the Bears went nowhere on the kickoff, going 3 and out and sending the ball back to San Francisco with 21 seconds left. However it wasn't enough time and the team did a simple rush play to get the clock moving and take it to the half.

3rd Quarter:

The 49er defense held the Bears to another 3 and out. Unfortunately, Bruce Ellington fumbled the ball on the San Francisco 45 yard line, recovered by Chicago. While Jay Cutler managed gettign more than 3 plays with an Eddie Royal 20 yard pass, the Bears were again stopped and held to a field goal. Which is actually pretty good given how bad that looked to start.

Score 10-6, Bears

The 49ers and Bears traded series and 3 and outs, leading to a really strange drive by San Francisco that was three straight pass plays. Well they are emulating Geep pretty well. I think.

The 49ers punted again, and forced the Bears to do the same and pin the 49ers on their own 1 yard line. The 49er offense managed to put a few runs together and a 7 yard Vance McDonald pass to get out of their endzone and the quarter came to and end.

4th Quarter:

Any sort of optimism that drive produced was shattered as Blaine Gabbert missed three throws in a row. Again. The 49ers punted it away. and the Bears running game finally woke up.

A 15 and 10 yard run by Matt Forte put the 49ers on their heels. From there, Culter nailed Josh Bellamy for three throws at around 15 yards a clip. Before you knew it, Matt Forte was running it in on the 1 yard line and the Bears extend the lead.

Score 17-6, Bears

Believe it or not, the 49ers actually went for it on 4th down in their own territory to try to save a 3 and out...which lead to a 7 yard Quinton Patton pass on 4th and 9. The resulting turnover on downs had the Bears offense starting on the San Francisco 28 yard line.

The facemask penaltyon the first play for the 49ers defense didn't help and once again the Bears were on the 1 yard line. Jay Cutler passed to Zach Miller for another TD and this game now looks very familiar.

Score 24-6, Bears

The 49ers got the ball back and (finally) showed some life on offense. It only took a 30 yard pass to DeAndrew White, a 23 yard Pass to Torrey Smith and a nice 27 yard pass to Quinton Patton to give the 49ers their first score of the day, with 2:49 left in the game.

Score 24-13, Bears

The 49ers failed the onside kick to Chicago, leading to Jay Cutler taking over on the San Francisco 50 yard line. The Bears began with a bunch of simple runs by Matt Forte that stalled around the 25 yard line. Enough for another field goal, 1:08 left, and for this game to pretty much be over.

Score 27-13, Bears

Blaine Gabbert took another sack on 2nd and 6 and that was enough to put Dylan Thompson in with 48 seconds to go. Thompson didn't do much better, taking sacks on the next two plays. It was enough for the Bears to take over and Cutler to take a knee.

Final Score 27-13, Bears

Final Thoughts:

From a yardage standpoint, the 49ers absolutely dominated the Bears. Blaine Gabbert went 263 yards vs Jay Cutler's 190, and the run game amased 83 yards vs Chicago's 50. However the poor field position, and that awful fumble just kept the 49ers out of it.

The other odd thing is the Bears hardly ever took a snap under center. I haven't watched the team that closely this season, so maybe that's what they've been doing, but it really looked strange.

I do see the 49ers scoring in the 2nd quarter at some point to keep this game competitive, but this end result is frighteningly believable. While last week the 49ers offense couldn't do much of anything against the Cardinals in our simulation, they certianly played a more competitive game on Sunday. This one, I don't see there being much of a difference. This is something very easy to accept.

But then again I believed the Cardinals/Niners score last week, so what do I know?