SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jay Cutler passed for three fourth-quarter touchdowns after much of Chicago’s starting defense went down, and the Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers 28-20 Sunday night to spoil their Levi’s Stadium debut.
Cutler threw three TD passes to Brandon Marshall, two in the wild fourth quarter, as Chicago erased a 13-point deficit and quieted the sellout crowd. Cutler threw for two scores in a 27-second span, aided by the gutsy play of a backup cornerback.
Kyle Fuller made two late interceptions for the depleted Chicago secondary, and the first set up the go-ahead score. San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for “inappropriate language” following Fuller’s first big play, setting up Cutler’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Martellus Bennett as the Bears went ahead 21-20.
A sloppy game filled with 26 penalties – 16 by the Niners – and a crazy collapse overshadowed the fanfare of the regular-season debut for the sparkling $1.2 billion stadium.
Michael Crabtree caught a touchdown pass on his 27th birthday and Frank Gore ran for a score to help the 49ers build a 17-0 lead in the second quarter.
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