Golden Nuggets: Bears week commences

49ers practice and media schedule leading to Week 1 matchup vs. Bears

“The San Francisco 49ers will hold four full practices this week as the team prepares for its Week 1 matchup against the Chicago Bears.”

Branch: After six-year wait, 49ers center Jake Brendel finally gets the call to start (paywall)

“Brendel is confident he’s ready to play, partly because of the players he learned from throughout his career. Before he spent a season with Mack and two seasons with Pouncey, he began his career in 2016 with the Cowboys, who had Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick.

“So year after year after year after year I’m kind of looking at the difference between the starter that I’m backing up and me,” Brendel aid. “How big of a difference is that?”

Rounding up 49ers roster notes after wild week

“Castro-Fields was the only 49ers draft pick to be let go. San Francisco was surely aiming to add him to their practice squad, but the Washington Commanders scooped him up.”

Omenihu doesn’t see ‘any holes’ in elite 49ers defense

“I go out there, and I have a really good run play, and I feel like I had good edge sets,” Omenihu said. “So the thought process of me not able to contain things can die, because that’s not going to be an issue.”

FROM THE VAULT: What if the Bears had drafted Joe Montana? (paywall)

“After some deliberation, Finks announced the Bears were taking McClendon. “Bill Tobin almost had apoplexy,” McGrane said before his death in 2015. “He was beside himself, sick he didn’t get Montana.”

Finks became a Hall of Famer, but it was not a Hall of Fame moment.

“Finks liked Montana, but he was human, too,” said McGrane, who also worked with Finks in Minnesota. “Finks would make picks out of his back pocket sometimes. He’d call it a hunch play.”