Bears survive flat showing, then a fight, to beat 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Bears survived a fight — and being flat — for their 11th win of the season, an ugly 14-9 victory against the four-win 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.

On Sunday, Bears clinched at least the third seed in the NFL playoffs. They’ll need to win in Week 17 and hope for a Rams loss if they want to earn the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye.

The Bears thought they had the game won before distaster struck. On third-and-5 coming out of the two-minute warning, quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw a slant to receiver Allen Robinson, who got the first down. He was running across the middle of the field when safety Marcell Harris — who started a fight earlier by hitting Trubisky late — punched the ball out of his right arm.

The 49ers recovered at their own 24. On second down, quarterback Nick Mullens completed a 25-yard pass Kendrick Bourne to get the ball to midfield. After a six-yard pass and two incompletions, Mullens faced fourth-and-4 at the 45. He rolled right and could have run for the first down, but launched an incompletion into the end zone instead.

The Bears took two knees to end the game.

Trubisky was efficient, though not spectacular. He threw only four incomplete passes all day, finishing 25-for-29 for 246 yards and a touchdown.

The Bears offense started the game flat. Cody Parkey made it worse when he missed a 37-yard field goal try at the end of the team’s second drive. The Bears’ defense, though, to 28 yards and two first downs in the quarter.

Robbie Gould, who the Bears infamously cut on the eve of the 2016 season, made three field goals in the second quarter — from 33, 30 and, as the clock expired, 23 yards.

In between his first two kicks, Trubisky made his most questionable decision of the day. On a read option play, he faked a handoff up the middle, ran right and threw a backward pass to Tarik Cohen. The ball squired loose and was recovered by DeForest Buckner, marking the 49ers’ first takeaway since Oct. 28.

With the 49ers up, 6-0, Trubisky marched the Bears down the field — and threw an interception that came back because of a penalty. From Throwing from the 13, Trubisky threw a pick to K’Waun Williams in the end zone, but linebacker Fred Warner was flagged for holding.

The Bears scored on the next play when Trubisky found rookie Anthony Miller at the left pylon for an eight-yard score.

The Bears put together a methodical drive on their first of the second half to reclaim the lead. They went 90 yards on 12 plays in a season-high 7:43. The drive almost never got going, though, as Allen Robinson needed a replay to overturn his fumble on the first play. Trubisky completed all seven pass attempts on the drive but handed to Jordan Howard for the two-yard touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, the 49ers seemed destined to cut the five-point lead down to two — or take the lead — when the Bears got lucky. On first-and-10 from the Bears’ 20 with 7:37 to play, Mullens threw a quick pass to Marquise Goodwin that bounced off his hands and hit inside linebacker Danny Trevathan in the stomach.

Three plays later, receivers Anthony Miller and Josh Bellamy were ejected for fighting, as was Richard Sherman, the 49ers’ former Pro Bowl cornerback.

The fight started when, with 5:28 to go, Trubisky scrambled left and slid near the Bears’ sideline. Long after he gave himself up, Trubisky was hit by Harris, setting off a skirmish in front of the Bears’ bench.

Officials tossed the three after reviewing replays.

The Bears went for it on fourth-and-1 and converted on a Trubisky sneak. With 3:14 to play, Trubisky converted a third-down pass to Allen Robinson.