Chicago Bears vs San Francisco 49ers: 5 players to watch

In a battle of losers, the 49ers head to Chicago to take on the Bears on Sunday afternoon. Despite both teams being awful, there are a few players to keep an eye on.

If the season were to end now, the Chicago Bears would be drafting 6th, and the San Francisco 49ers would be drafting 2nd. Both teams have had awful years, there is no questioning that. Some may say that the 49ers are tanking the season away. They began the season with Brian Hoyer, who is now with the New England Patriots, they then chose to see what former Iowa QB CJ Beathard had in his tank, whatever it was, was not good. In a somewhat surprising move, they traded for Jimmy Garoppolo, who will be making his first start for the 49ers against the Bears on Sunday.

The Bears on the other hand, are not necessarily tanking, they are just bad. Part of that is due to the coaching staff, as John Fox and Dowell Loggains can not seem to find a way to use their rookie quarterback in the right way. Inept coaching is easy to blame, however injuries have played a major part in the Bears struggling offense. To begin the season, Kevin White and Cameron Meredith were expected to be the future of the receiving core for this team. Only, fate had other ideas in mind. Both receivers would suffer season ending injuries. In all likelihood, this will be the final season for John Fox in Chicago. The one question one everyone’s mind is, who will be coaching the Bears in 2018 and beyond?

This game has draft implications out the wazoo. If the Bears win, they would likely fall to the 10th pick in the upcoming draft, if the 49ers can pull a victory out of a magical hat, they would move into a tie with the Giants for the 2nd overall pick. Given that the Giants have chosen to bench Eli Manning for the rest of the season, we will see a classic tank war in the final months of the season.