The San Francisco 49ers overcame injuries to sink the struggling Dallas Cowboys in Week 1, while the Chicago Bears shocked everyone by falling to the uncharacteristically solid Buffalo Bills. But both teams have been talked about as playoff teams, so their Week 2 matchup is one of the more anticipated on the schedule, which is why it's getting the Sunday Night Football treatment.
Bears vs. 49ers 2014: Picks and predictions for Week 2
Can the 49ers’ shaky secondary have another big day against an interception-prone quarterback?
Jonathan Daniel
Despite an already shaky cornerback situation made worse by starters Tramaine Brock and Chris Culliver going down with injury, the 49ers managed to pick off Tony Romo three times and dominate the game on that side of the ball. It also helped that Colin Kaepernick proved that the 49ers actually know how to throw the football.
Chicago’s pass defense played as expected against the Bills, earning one of the best marks around the league in Week 1, but 193 rushing yards allowed definitely sunk them. Quarterback Jay Cutler threw for over 300 yards, but at the end of the day, the Bills took a somewhat tame 23-20 victory on the back of making fewer mistakes.
As such, the 49ers are generally favored to best the Bears, especially in the home opener at the new Levi’s Stadium. All eight of the experts picking at CBS Sports -- including guys like Jason La Canfora and Will Brinson -- picked the 49ers to beat the Bears straight up. It’s a similar situation at ESPN, where 12 of the 13 experts are going with the 49ers -- Mike Ditka is, unsurprisingly, the lone dissenter. Both Frank Schwab and Eric Adelson of Yahoo! Sports are going with the 49ers as well.
SB Nation’s own experts are a little more divided. Four of the seven are going with the 49ers, with three, including PFT Commenter, going with Chicago.
| Week 2 | Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | PFT Commenter | Matt Ufford |
| CHI vs. SF | SF | CHI | SF | SF | SF | CHI | CHI |
That’s a bigger spread than the rest of the expert picks, but the 49ers are still clearly favored. San Francisso opened at 7-point favorites and some books moved to have them favored by 7.5 points later in the week, according to OddsShark.
SB Nation’s full Week 2 picks can be found here.
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