Colin Kaepernick passed for 243 yards and two touchdowns in his first start in place of the injured Alex Smith as the San Francisco 49ers whipped the Chicago Bears 32-7 on Monday night in a highly touted NFC showdown that hardly lived up to the hype.
Kaepernick threw touchdown passes to Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, while Kendall Hunter ran for a 14-yard touchdown as San Francisco jumped out to a big lead by scoring on each of their first four possessions — with Aldon Smith wreaking havoc on the other side of the ball with five sacks.
“I really wasn’t too nervous,” Kaepernick said. “I’ve had a lot of time in this offense. My teammates were really supportive.”
Photo: AFP
Jason Campbell, the other quarterback in this matchup of backups for two division leaders, threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall in the third quarter, but was sacked five times and threw two interceptions in his first start since October last year for Oakland. He faced fierce pressure all night, on the field for the Bears as starter Jay Cutler recovers from a concussion suffered eight days earlier — just like Smith.
After Kaepernick’s stellar night on the big stage, there is certain to be chatter of a quarterback controversy for the NFC West-leading Niners.
Aldon Smith took over the NFL sacks lead with 15, passing Denver’s Von Miller with 13. Tarell Brown and Dashon Goldson each had an interception for San Francisco’s stingy defense, which shut down Campbell, Matt Forte and Co three years after the teams last met in a 10-6 49ers home win.
“It definitely wasn’t our best effort, by no means,” Campbell said.
Kaepernick, Aldon Smith and Hunter made general manager Trent Baalke look good for his selections from last year’s draft class and reigning NFL Coach of the Year Jim Harbaugh earned a key victory four days after his own health issue.
The 48-year-old Harbaugh underwent a minor procedure for an irregular heartbeat on Thursday.
The 49ers added a safety in the fourth quarter that was scored after review. With 9 minutes, 24 seconds left, former San Francisco offensive lineman Chilo Rachal was called for intentional grounding out of the end zone, but Harbaugh challenged and earned the safety after review showed Rachal was down in the end zone.
The soft-spoken, stone-faced Kaepernick went 16-for-23 with a 133.1 passer rating. He completed 12 of his first 14 passes with a 57-yard strike to Kyle Williams that set up Davis’ three-yard touchdown on the next play — and he already had amassed 126 yards passing by the end of the first quarter.
The 49ers led 17-0 on Hunter’s early touchdown run in the second, quickly topping the 14.8 points the Bears were allowing per game.
Kaepernick threw for 184 yards in the first half alone — an impressive outing for the second-year pro selected in last year’s second round out of Nevada.
“I think after the first drive, I felt really comfortable with what they were doing and what we had in our game plan,” he said.
Frank Gore ran for 78 yards and David Akers kicked field goals of 32, 37 and 32 yards for the 49ers, eager to defend their home field a week after settling for a frustrating 24-24 tie against the division rival St Louis Rams.
They outgained Chicago 249-35 in a lopsided first half.
Davis got his prime-time moment just how he loves it. Eager to get more involved in the offense down the stretch this season, the tight end had a team-best six catches for 83 yards.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was