Garoppolo, Samuel key end of four-game skid

CHICAGO – Deebo Samuel saved the 49ers’ season.

Or Jimmy Garoppolo did.

Or credit the 49ers’ offensive line that pushed Elijah Mitchell over the goal line, then followed by opening a lane for Garoppolo’s second touchdown run of his pressure-packed homecoming game.

The 49ers desperately snapped a four-game losing streak Sunday with a 30-22, comeback win against the Chicago Bears, who needed more than rookie quarterback Justin Fields’ magic on a Halloween Sunday at Soldier Field.

Eventually, it fell on the 49ers’ defense to preserve a fourth-quarter lead, a defense that’s been unreliable all season and especially on third downs. Fields remarkably ran for a touchdown to threaten the lead, but he was sacked by Samson Ebukam with 4 1/2 minutes left, and then came a Josh Norman interception with 1:34 to go.

Arguably, it also came down to whichever kicker missed at which inopportune moment, and the Bears’ case was certainly hurt by Cairo Santos’ missed point-after kick in the fourth quarter to keep them behind 23-22.

In the end, the 49ers (3-4) won on the road, as was the case their first two games of the season, and next up is a Sunday home date with an Arizona Cardinals team that is 7-1 but could be without quarterback Kyler Murray (ankle).

Here are the highlights from this one:

SUPER SCREEN

Nothing like an 83-yard screen pass to spark a comeback.

On third-and-20, Samuel snatched Garoppolo’s pass at the 11-yard line, then weaved his way through traffic, with helpful blocks by Brandon Aiyuk and Alex Mack. Samuel dove to get the ball onto the left pylon for an apparent touchdown, only to have a replay review nix that and state Samuel had stepped out of bounds at the 1.

Another setback followed with a Laken Tomlinson false start penalty, then after a respectable run by Elijah Mitchell and a pass breakup near Aiyuk, Garoppolo scored in his own virtual backyard, having grown up 30 minutes away in Arlington Heights.

SAMUEL’S DAY

Samuel dropped a Garoppolo pass on Sunday’s opening snap. Another drop came later. Then, every time he caught the ball, he looked on a mission to make a positive difference.

That 83-yard reception by Samuel was remarkable for how he ran with the ball. Just as impressive was how he ran without it near the end of the first half, when he hauled in a 50-yard bomb by Garoppolo to set up a field goal and a 9-6 halftime deficit.

Samuel came away with his fourth 100-yard game this season, totaling six catches for 171 yards (18 shy of his season-opening total at Detroit).

GAROPPOLO SCORES

Garoppolo passed for 322 yards (17 of 28, no interceptions) and ran for two touchdowns in a remarkable return to the site of his first 49ers’ start in December 2017.

He took it upon himself to score the 49ers’ first touchdown at Soldier Field since Torrey Smith’s 2015 walk-off winner. On third-and-goal from the 2, just as Samuel joined him in the backfield, Garoppolo took the snap, cut up the left side behind Kyle Juszczyk’s block and body slammed the goal line.

The score came exactly two hours into what essentially had been a kicking contest, and then came a reminder of that when Joey Slye missed the point-after attempt to keep the 49ers behind 16-15.

Garoppolo’s second touchdown didn’t come easy, either. He had a bigger lane to run toward the goal line but took a hit as he found pay dirt (in the north, opposite end zone from his first score).

Such quarterback runs figured to come from his backup or substitute, Trey Lance, but the rookie kept a coat and beanie on along the sideline. He was coming off a sprained knee from three weeks earlier.

MITCHELL GETS MOVING

Elijah Mitchell’s 5-yard go-ahead touchdown run didn’t look like it was going to get more than a yard. Then he kept his legs moving, and blockers engulfed him to push the moshpit over the goal line for the lead. Brandon Aiyuk caught a 2-point conversion pass from Garoppolo to make it 23-16.

Mitchell helped seal the win with a 39-yard run to the 24, and that put him over 100 yards for the rookie’s third game this season. He finished with 137 yards on 18 carries.

SACKING FIELDS

Passed over by the 49ers at the No. 3 draft slot, Fields showed off the dual-threat prowess that made him the Bears’ pick at No. 11. He proved tough to bring down, whether on a scramble, a keeper or even a sack.

His 22-yard touchdown run, with 9:32 remaining, showed off just elusive he is. He covered 59.6 yards on the play, according to NextGen Stats.

Fields nearly got sacked by Arik Armstead at the 30-yard line, then cut past a bevy of defenders, including Fred Warner, who got leveled by a Jason Peters block. (A missed point-after kick kept the 49ers in the lead.)

Nick Bosa was also among the band that couldn’t get to Fields on that scoring play. Bosa did, however, notch two sacks to raise his team-leading total to seven, two shy of his 2019 rookie total. Bosa and others stood up Fields for a 1-yard loss on his second sack, and Bosa overcame a holding penalty to notch his first in the first half.

Fields had been sacked an NFL-high 22 times entering the game. He got sacked four times in this one, but ran for 103 yards (10 carries) and passed for 175 yards (19 of 27).

Samson Ebukam picked a great time for his first sack of his 49ers’ tenure: on third down to force a Bears punt with 4 1/2 minutes to go. Marcell Harris got credit for a fourth-down sack after tackling a scrambling Fields.

AIYUK LIVES