By Brian Murphy
One bye week, and the world forgets about you.
At least that’s the vibe the Jock Blog was picking up after the Chicago Bears, with their shiny new toy All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons, walloped the Seattle Seahawks in the Pacific Northwest Monday night, 34-17.
The chattering class went bananas for the Bears.
In a world of recency bias, it seemed to go like this:
— The 49ers’ 6-0 start and Brock Purdy’s MVP campaign?
Chattering class: Child, please. That’s SO September/October.
— The Bears’ three-game win streak and the Caleb Williams/Simmons star show?
Chattering class: As noted Bears fan Paris Hilton might have said back in the 2000s, “That’s hot.”
Thus, the Jock Blog is here to say, you know, for lack of a better phrase: Blank the chattering class.
The fawning over Ben Johnson and Williams and Simmons struck as a little much. More than once the Bears were called the best team in the league, Super Bowl favorite, you name it.
All the while, Kyle Shanahan holds up his play sheet to cover his mouth and readies to get back to work this Sunday against the Raiders, as 10-point favorites.
Meanwhile, the Bears don’t even lead the NFC North.
Look, we get it. The Bears look good. Johnson is the Shanahan of the Central time zone. Williams became the first QB to crack the 200-yard mark against Seattle’s robust defense, in Seattle no less. Since coming back from injury, Williams won at Atlanta (a place where Purdy lost), out-dueled Drake Maye and beat the Patriots, then posted the slobber-inducing win in Seattle that had the chattering class all a-chatterin’. And Williams is on a heater, yes — passer ratings of 111, 116 and 101 in those three wins, and nary an interception thrown.
But the Jock Blog is here to say: what, did the NFL get selective amnesia? The 49ers’ loss in Atlanta — in which Brock Purdy’s receiving corps might as well have been the Pep Boys — and a bye week means the chattering class hasn’t even said the words “Forty” or “Niners” in what seems like a year. That is, unless the topic is the warm family reunion with Brandon Aiyuk on Friday, Cookies and milk for everyone on that day.
Let’s go through a refresher: The 49ers lead the NFL in yards per play. The 49ers lead the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage. (The Bears are 17th). The 49ers can run it — 5th in the NFL in yards per rush. The 49ers trail only Josh Allen’s Bills in yard gained per pass attempt. The 49ers are 6-1, a better record than the Bears, and lead the NFC West by three games.
We could go on. Pro Football Reference is littered with gaudy 49ers stats.
And then the 49ers traded for DeForest Buckner.
Culture, impact, timing — Buckner should be a home run swing by John Lynch.
Now, now. Diligent readers of the Jock Blog know this is not a “homers-only” zone for takes, as I was just saying to any JB written about the Giants this past summer. If the 49ers don’t have what it takes, we’ll call it out.
But something about the national Bears-a-palooza triggered this corner of the blogosphere. The 49ers have looked great this year, dating back to a perfectly executed international mission of goodwill and ass-kicking to Australia, up to and including a win at Seattle and withstanding a comically bad run of injuries.
The theory is — the theory is! — that Mike Evans, Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel will return and prosper. Same with, hopefully, rookie glimmer De’Zhaun Stribling.
And as the JB wrote last week, Lynch is more than likely to make another move before Nov. 10.
The 49ers have the Raiders at home, travel to Dallas, play the Vikings in Mexico City and then have the Seahawks at home the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Already armed with that lead in the NFC West, supremacy could be well in order when December arrives.
Let ‘em use the crowning of the Bears as pure motivational fuel. Bulletin board time. The 49ers are off their bye week, and it’s probably time they remind the league who they are.
