The San Francisco 49ers are set to travel to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears in the opening week of the 2022 season. The 49ers are coming into the year as playoff hopefuls. They are in a loaded NFC West division, however, the playoffs are still very manageable for them. The team recently announced that Trey Lance would be their opening day starter at the quarterback position. This is a great game for him to debut as the team’s season-long starter. The Chicago Bears are coming into the year as arguably the worst team in the NFL. They have a very young quarterback and coaching staff. Along with this, they are not extremely talented at any position at the moment. Some analysts even believe that the Bears have the potential to go 0-17 this season. While that will likely not happen, it speaks to the mismatch between the two teams.
San Francisco 49ers Open the Season With Trey Lance
The San Francisco 49ers season is in Trey Lance’s hands. The young quarterback has the potential to make this team Super Bowl contenders, however, he could also bar them from making the playoffs depending on how he performs. While this will be a tall task for a relatively inexperienced quarterback, Lance has shown that he is more than capable of leading this roster to the playoffs. However, the 49ers have a quality team around him and if things go south for the team, they still have Jimmy Garopolo to manage the season. This should be a cakewalk of a game for Lance and a great chance for him to establish himself as the team’s starter for the remainder of the season. Currently, the 49ers are listed as 16.5 favorites over the Bears.
Chicago Bears Look to Continue Preseason Hot Streak
While things look very bleak coming into the regular season for the Chicago Bears, they had a spectacular preseason in which they went 3-0. They took down the Kansas City Chiefs by a final score of 19-14 in week one, the Seahawks, 27-11 in week two, and the Cleveland Browns by a score of 21-20 in week three. Chicago has some promising young pieces on their roster, however, they are still a very inexperienced team. It is clear that there is still a way to go before the rebuild is complete in Chicago and this year will have to be sacrificed for the future. While the Bears are not in contention for a quarterback, they still have many positions of need and would benefit greatly from a high draft pick. This will be one of their toughest games of the year this season and as previously mentioned, they are projected to lose by 16.5 points. This may be an ugly way to start off the year for the Bears, and things may not get much better as the season continues, however, they are on the right track to becoming a contending team in the future.
