San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears

Thursday, August 21, 2008

*O"Sullivan sparks 49ers past Bears*

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears solidified their quarterback situations in Thursday's preseason game. The same cannot be said of their defenses.

J. T. O'Sullivan was nearly flawless, helping guide the 49ers to an entertaining 37-30 victory over the Bears.

Playing slightly more than one quarter, O'Sullivan finished 7-of-8 for 126 yards and a touchdown to all but lock up the starting job. He capped his 158.3 quarterback rating with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jason Hill 36 seconds into the second quarter.

Former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith replaced O'Sullivan and struggled. Smith remained in the game through the third quarter, finishing 6-of-17 for 83 yards with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Dominique Zeigler with 9:28 left in the third quarter.

The Bears' decision to go with quarterback Kyle Orton as starter also was reinforced. He finished 10-for-17 with 147 yards and a quarterback rating of 126.3.

Orton tossed two touchdown passes to Rashied Davis, the first for 21 yards in the first quarter and the second for 7 yards in the second.

Backup Rex Grossman, on the other hand, faced a steady stream of boos. Grossman replaced Orton on the Bears' second drive of the second half, and was 1-of-4 for six yards.

On its first drive, San Francisco ran four times behind running back Frank Gore, who finished with eight rushes for 51 yards. He added a pair of receptions for 19 yards.

Chicago's rookie running back Matt Forte continued his impressive start, carrying 11 times in a 44-yard first-half performance.

With defense an after-thought for most of the contest, the game ended on an appropriate note when Bears wideout Brandon Rideau hauled in a 51-yard Hail Mary scoring pass from Caleb Hanie as time expired.