The 49ers will not have right end George Kittle for Sunday night’s game against the Bears.
Kittle is officially inactive with an ankle sprain after he was listed as questionable for the contest.
But the 49ers will have receiver Ricky Pearsall after he missed last week’s win with ankle and knee issues. He was listed as limited in practice all week.
On the other side, the Bears will have receiver DJ Moore and right tackle Darnell Wright when they were added to the injury report as questionable due to an illness.
For San Francisco, Kittle, cornerback Renardo Green, defensive tackle Kevin Givens, defensive end Robert Beal, running back Isaac Guerendo, receiver Jordan Watkins, and linebacker Curtis Robinson are inactive.
Chicago’s inactives are receiver Rome Odunze, receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, cornerback Nick McCloud, linebacker Ruben Hyppolite, cornerback Dallis Flowers, and offensive lineman Luke Newman.
There seems to be a bug going around the Bears locker room ahead of Sunday night’s game against the 49ers.
The Bears announced that wide receivers DJ Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus are both questionable to play because of illness. Right tackle Darnell Wright also traveled to Santa Clara separately from the team because he is under the weather.
Rome Odunze was ruled out with a foot injury on Friday, so the Bears were already set to be shorthanded at receiver for the contest. Luther Burden, Jahdae Walker, Devin Duvernay, and practice squad elevation JP Richardson are the other receivers for Chicago.
Inactives for the game will be released 90 minutes ahead of the 8:25 p.m. ET kickoff.
49ers tight end George Kittle did not practice at all this week due to a sprained ankle, but the team did not rule him out of Sunday night’s game against the Bears when they handed in their final injury report on Friday.
A report on Sunday morning suggests Kittle will ultimately be ruled out of the contest, however. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Kittle is “highly unlikely” to be in the lineup at Levi’s Stadium.
Luke Farrell and Jake Tonges are the other tight ends on the 53-man roster and the 49ers also elevated Brayden Willis from the practice squad on Saturday.
Schefter also reports that wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is expected to play. Pearsall is listed as questionable with knee and ankle injuries.
Sunday night’s game has major implications for the 49ers’ place in the NFC playoff picture. A 49ers win over the Bears and a Week 18 win over the Seahawks would make the 49ers the No. 1 seed in the conference. They would still have a slim chance of winning the NFC West with a loss to Chicago, but there would be no path to the top seed.
The Bears have never had a 4,000-yard passer. Caleb Williams has an outside shot at getting there.
Williams, in his second season, has 3,400 with two games to play. That puts him 600 yards from 4,000.
His single-game high through 15 games this season in 298. He had four 300-yard games as a rookie in 2024, with a high of 363 in his third career start.
The franchise single-season record was set 30 years ago, by Erik Kramer. In 1995, he threw for 3,838 yards.
Williams’s 3,400-yard season ranks sixth on the Bears’ all-time list. Last year’s 3,541 yards from Williams ranks fifth.
The second, third, and fourth spots all belong to Jay Cutler, with 3,812 in 2014, 3,666 in 2009, and 3,659 in 2015.
With the NFC North title clinched on Saturday night, thanks to Green Bay’s loss to the Ravens, the bigger prize for Williams and the Bears would be the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Among other things, they need to beat the 49ers on Sunday night in Santa Clara. The Bears have previously secured the No. 1 seed three times: 1985, 1988, and 2006.
Four teams remain in contention for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, and the Seahawks are the favorites to come out on top.
The betting odds have the Seahawks as +100 favorites to earn the top seed in the conference. Seattle could actually clinch the No. 1 seed this week, although that would require a 49ers-Bears tie in addition to a Seattle win and a Rams loss. The simplest path to the No. 1 seed for the Seahawks is just to win their final two games, which would mean the playoffs go through Seattle regardless of what any other team does.
The 49ers’ odds of earning the No. 1 seed are at +220, and the 49ers also clinch if they win their final two games, against the Bears and Seahawks.
The Rams’ odds of the No. 1 seed are at +500. The Rams would earn the top spot if they win their final two games, against the Falcons and Cardinals, while the 49ers lose to the Bears this week, and then the 49ers beat the Seahawks next week.
The Bears have the longest odds of the four teams still in the hunt, at +600. Chicago needs to win out and get help in the form of losses by the Rams and Seahawks.
