San Francisco got a much-needed win on Sunday in its 38-13 blowout victory over the Chicago Bears from Levi’s Stadium.
With the win, San Francisco improves to 6-7 on the season, while Chicago drops its seventh straight and falls to 4-9.
During its dominance of Chicago, the 49ers did sustain a pair of significant injuries. Left guard Ben Bartch and rookie running back Isaac Guerendo each departed with injuries.
Afterwards, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Bartch is believed to have suffered a high ankle sprain and Guerendo might have suffered a foot sprain.
“We’re not sure. Possible foot sprain. X-rays didn’t for sure show anything, so we’ll have to look into it more tomorrow,” Shanahan said of Guerendo.
Already playing without starting left tackle Trent Williams and starting left guard Aaron Banks, San Francisco turned to Bartch up front at left guard.
Bartch exited on San Francisco’s second offensive series with an ankle injury and was eventually ruled out. Third-year pro Spencer Burford replaced Bartch. Burford was the 49ers’ starting right guard over each of the past two seasons.
Elsewhere, with running backs Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason each placed on the IR this week, Guerendo made his first career start against the Bears.
Guerendo enjoyed quite the performance, too. According to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, Guerendo joined Huch McElhenny (1952), Earl Cooper (1980) and Carlos Hyde (2015) as 49ers with 100-plus scrimmage yards and at least two touchdowns in their first career start.
Guerendo carried 15 times for 78 yards and tallied rushing scores of 1 and 4 yards. The rookie out of Louisville also caught a pair of passes for 50 yards. But, Guerendo was sidelined with a foot injury on the 49ers’ second-to-last offensive series of the night.
The 49ers will cross their fingers for good news on Guerendo. In the meantime, Shanahan loved what he saw from the recent fourth-round pick.
“Brock got to a check down on that first third down. He was waiting on Kittle to get across the middle and that’s who I was watching, and then he went underneath to Isaac and they just dropped him.
“That was a huge play. I thought Isaac looked real good today. Ran hard, affected the game in the pass game and hopefully we get some good news on his injury. I had mixed emotions on that last drive. It was nice to be able to go on a 14-play drive to finish it with a touchdown and kind of put them away, but it was tough losing Isaac there,” Shanahan said.
Fourth-year pro Patrick Taylor operated as San Francisco’s backup running back against Chicago. Taylor promptly found the end zone on a 3-yard rushing score after Guerendo departed the game with his foot injury.
Taylor ended his night with seven carries for 25 yards and the lone score.
If the 49ers have to turn to Taylor moving forward, Shanahan sounded optimistic about what Taylor could provide.
“I think you guys saw a little bit today. When we’ve given Patrick runs, going back to the preseason and in practice, he’s a good runner, he hits the right spots, he runs hard. So, he’s a guy who can definitely help us.
“He had some big carries I want to say versus Seattle I think it was when JP went out and he was spelling Isaac. He had to spell Isaac today, and, when he went in, did a good job in all of his opportunities,” Shanahan said.
San Francisco starting quarterback Brock Purdy briefly exited the game after a roughing the passer penalty on Bears defensive end Darrell Taylor in the fourth quarter. Taylor’s body weight came down upon Purdy’s head and neck area, but Purdy quickly returned to the action.
Shanahan said there’s always initial concern when any player goes down, but he quickly found out that Purdy was going to be OK.
“Always when any of our players are down. But, they talked to me in my headset and stuff. By the time he got to the sideline, they told me he was good, so it was short-lived,” Shanahan said.
San Francisco returns to action with a Thursday night date against NFC West rival Los Angeles (7-6) in Week 15. The Rams sit a game in front of the 49ers in the division standings and just pulled off a 44-42 upset victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
