SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The building was shiny in its newness, its occupants giddy and frenetic. Levi's Stadium was drenched in red and cheers. This is what happens when a new stadium opens. It's Christmas in the fall.
Before the 49ers played Chicago on Sunday night, there was the prerequisite stadium-opening pomp and circumstance. Joe Montana was here. Jerry Rice was here. On the pretty, giant video screen with the pretty, giant hills in the backdrop, appeared Barry Bonds' giant head to cheers. It's not a party until Bonds shows up.
The night was beautiful and perfect. Then the game was played. That's when the noise eventually quieted. It got so quiet you could hear some 49ers players cursing on the field. Then, a quiet panic set in as the 49ers fell 28-20 to a team they had no business losing to.
There is this indisputable fact. Jay Cutler and his pouty face vastly outplayed Colin Kaepernick. I mean, vastly. On an opening night when the Bears were supposed to be sheep, Cutler transformed them into lions. And not the ones from Detroit.
His throws were splendid, and unlike Kaepernick he displayed great patience in the pocket. That poise was the reason he was able to put perfectly thrown balls into the hands and gut of Brandon Marshall, who had three scores.
Marshall definitely appreciated the looks. After the game, as Cutler was talking to the media, Marshall approached him and kissed Cutler on the head. Then Cutler went on with his press conference, at times looking down, not paying attention, texting. Cutler gonna Cutler.
Cutler deserved the smoochy appreciation from Marshall-in the fourth quarter, Cutler was 5-of-5 for 51 yards and three touchdowns-but the 49ers did have a chance to kiss off the Bears.
The 49ers led 17-0 in the second quarter. The stadium party got loud. Then it was 20-7 in the third. The roof was on fire. Then came that Chicago defense and Cutler. This game is sure to ignite the ridiculous and asinine debate about how good Kaepernick is-he's fantastic-but it's also true he looked totally confused by some of the secondary schemes and Bears blitzes.
Kaepernick began reverting to the old Kaepernick where he would immediately scramble if his initial option was covered...and the Bears had enough speed to catch him.
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Despite Kaepernick's rough night, the 49ers still had a chance to potentially tie the game with just seconds left. Kaepernick threw a perfect pass to Michael Crabtree in the end zone. The ball hit Crabtree in the hands. Right in the hands. He dropped it.
Overall, Kaepernick looked lost. He was, at times, almost unrecognizable. Colin Tebow. His carelessness with the football led to four turnovers (three interceptions). This was not the Kaepernick that I've become used to seeing.
In his postgame news conference, coach Jim Harbaugh repeatedly used the phrase 'we all had fingerprints on this one.' In the locker room after the game, the 49ers players I spoke to said what turned out to be an intense week of off-the-field news had no bearing on the contest. But I don't believe that. The main reason San Francisco lost was Cutler, Marshall and the Bears defense, but a close second was the insane week around the NFL, which put its fingerprints on this team. It had to.
The game itself showed both the promise and the problems with San Francisco. It could easily reach the Super Bowl despite a brutal division. The 49ers could also be eliminated in the first round.
They outhustled and outmuscled the Bears for much of the game. Then everything fell apart.
It's possible the team, like many other people in the NFL, was distracted by the insanity of the week, a week in which the 49ers were constantly mentioned and almost center stage. The week started with the release of a video showing a tiny woman getting pummeled in an elevator by an abusive thug. It continued with pictures emerging of the bruised, cut leg of a four-year-old child allegedly beaten by a muscled-up star running back.
The entirety of the NFL, indeed a significant swath of the nation, was captivated by maybe the worst week in the history of football.
The repercussions were intensely felt here, particularly Sunday morning. Every football preview show discussed the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson cases, with some anchors offering brilliant, passionate discussions.
Other personalities embarrassed themselves. It was clear what this day was going to be. It was going to be football intertwined with an ongoing national discussion on two volatile topics, and the 49ers were in the thick of it.
Some eight hours before the 49ers would play, the Panthers deactivated Greg Hardy, whom prosecutors say choked his then-girlfriend and threatened to kill her. Hardy was sentenced to 18 months of probation and a 60-day suspended sentence. He has appealed his conviction to a jury.
The Panthers had contended they would play Hardy, then at the last minute deactivated him. Football then turned to the 49ers, who have their own player accused of domestic violence, defensive lineman Ray McDonald.
McDonald hasn't been charged, but there were numerous calls for the 49ers to bench him, including in the hours before the game a call from California's lieutenant governor, and former San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
A 49ers source with knowledge of the situation said the team hasn't suspended McDonald because he deserves due process. I'm also told that the 49ers believe McDonald may be innocent of the accusations against him and have held off punishment for that reason.
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Again, players I spoke with deny there was any distraction from the McDonald situation, but the team looked lost at the end.
While wondering if a team is distracted by such an allegedly ugly set of accusations like the ones against McDonald potentially trivializes the seriousness of the legal situation, we do have to talk about the potential impact in the football universe. And in that context, the McDonald situation threatens to be a huge problem for the team.
It's just one game, and there will certainly be the critics who enjoy hating Kaepernick that are sure to say he's taken a step back. He hasn't. Kaepernick will be back.
The real question with the 49ers has nothing to do with Kaepernick. No, the real question is what will happen with McDonald. It will have an effect on the team. How can it not? It did against the Bears. Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.
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