The Bears in the third quarter of Sunday’s game at Soldier Field kicked a field goal on their opening drive of the third quarter. The 49ers offense responded with a gasp, a sputter and looked to be wilting into the sordid mess that had chatter about a starting quarterback change louder than ever. Then head coach Kyle Shanahan dialed up a screen pass to wide receiver Deebo Samuel that turned the Week 8 matchup on its head. It was reminiscent of another time a screen pass flipped a game during Shanahan’s tenure.
Sunday in Chicago the 49ers trailed 16-9 when they took over at their own 25. A run for running back Elijah Mitchell went nowhere. Their second-down play was negated by a block in the back by fullback Kyle Juszczyk. On second-and-20, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tried to find tight end Charlie Woerner, but the throw fluttered to the turf. Then Garoppolo threw a screen to Samuel. It was perfectly blocked, and Samuel knifed his way behind his blockers and through the Bears defense en route to an 83-yard pickup and a first-and-goal at Chicago’s 1-yard-line. The 49ers scored to make it a 16-15 ball game four plays later, and they’d ride that momentum to a 33-22 win.
In 2019 the 49ers found themselves in a similar scenario at home against the Arizona Cardinals. They trailed 16-0 midway through the second quarter after punting and failing on a fourth down conversion in their first two series. San Francisco was 8-1, but coming off their first loss of the season and going into a brutal stretch against the Packers, Ravens and Saints. Losing to a bad Arizona team could’ve been the start of a spiral that derailed a promising season.
After a Cardinals touchdown made it 16-0, Shanahan dialed up a screen on a first-and-10 from the 49ers’ 25. This one went to Richie James, who got down the sideline for 57 yards to the Arizona 18. Four plays later Garoppolo hit tight end Ross Dwelley for a touchdown that made it 16-7. The momentum flipped the same way it did after Samuel’s big run Sunday, and San Francisco would take a 17-16 lead with a field goal and a touchdown on their next two possessions.
The situations weren’t apples-to-apples, but the game-changing big play on a screen pass stood out Sunday the way it did two seasons ago at Levi’s Stadium. On a day where it looked like the offense was out of gas, they got a jolt from a quick throw and an explosive run after the catch.
San Francisco hosts Arizona in Week 9 as they look to get back to the .500 mark. Another screen pass may be in order, perhaps before they dig themselves in a hole this time.
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