Story and photo by R. Mascardo

SANTA CLARA — The San Francisco 49ers put up a fight against the Chicago Bears Sunday that went down to the last minute. But they couldn’t execute a game winning drive and wound up falling short in the end, 14-9.

The Bears had the ball with two minutes to play with no 49ers time-out. But a forced fumble by 49ers cornerback Tarvarius Moore on a wide receiver Allen Robinson gave the 49ers hope. But the 49ers couldn’t cash in on the opportunity, and wound up going home on the losing end.

49ers quarterback Nick Mullens finished 22 of 38 for 249 yards and no interception on the game, while tight end George Kittle caught seven passes for 74 yards in the losing effort.

For the Bears, quarterback Mitch Trubisky finished 25 of 29 for 246 yards and a touchdown. Running back Jordan Howard ran for 53 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.

The 49ers and Bears held each other scoreless through the first quarter, with the Bears getting edge yardage-wise on offense.

The 49ers defense was getting the job done early. But one of their big plays was sacked by Cassius Marsh. They wound up punting the ball back to San Francisco after falling short on third down.

After a 49ers punt to start the half, the Bears took over and executed a long drive to take a 14-9 lead on a touchdown run from Jordan Howard.

The 49ers gave away a drive with 15-yard face mask penalty that negated what would be a four yard loss on a second down to the Bears.

The 49ers were making some headway against the Bears defense on a late fourth quarter after completing a drive from Nick Mullens to Kendrick Bourne. For a moment it looked like they were in business.

But on 4th-and-4 play, Mullens rolled out and looked to have clear path to an easy run. Instead, Mullens made an incomplete pass deep down field and sealed the win for the Bears.

NEXT: 49ers head south to face the Rams on Sunday, Dec. 30.