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The answer to that question can be summed up by the team effort shown on the five-yard touchdown run from running back Elijah Mitchell that gave the 49ers their first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter.
The 49ers trailed the Bears 16-9 early in the third quarter before cutting the lead to 16-15 on a two-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after a pitoval 83-yard catch and run from wide receiver Deebo Samuel gave them a 1st-and-Goal at the Bears' 1-yard line. The Bears punted back to the 49ers after that touchdown, then they quickly put together another touchdown drive that ended when Mitchell ran it in from five yards out -- with a little help from his friends.
Pushing the pile. @49ers take the lead! #FTTB
— NFL (@NFL) October 31, 2021
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As the above footage shows, Mitchell appeared to be stopped on the play by the Bears' defense, but the 49ers rallied behind him and gave him one last push to get him across the goal line. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said the play was a sign of how hard the team knew they'd have to fight to beat the Bears in Chicago, and how much they wanted to get the win after losing four consecutive games.
"That was really cool," Shanahan said. "You could see a lot on one play what our team's feeling right now. We knew we had to hunker down. We knew we had to battle this week. We knew we had to fight. That's a really good team we just beat, and you could just see how important it was to all eleven guys out there because we needed all eleven to get him in the end zone."
"It was a cool moment," Warner said. "It shows the resilience, the fight in everyone. We talked about it was going to take everyone to win it, by any means. That was the story of the game right there."
49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel wasn't among those involved in the final push, but it turned out the offensive line was able to get the job done without him.
"It was crazy, as you could see," Samuel said. "I didn't even think everybody was going to push because I just stopped pushing. The O-Line just carried him in the end zone."
Even quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo got in on the effort... kind of. Garoppolo can be seen running into the pile to give a push at the end of the play, but Mitchell had already crossed the goal line by the time he arrived.
The touchdown was one of the biggest plays of the game for the 49ers and one of several key moments delivered by Mitchell. The rookie running back finished with 137 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries (7.6 average), with some of those runs going for big yardage. Mitchell's big plays were instrumental in helping the 49ers get the better of a talented Bears defense.
"From what it looked like, Elijah made some really good runs," Shanahan said. "I think we gave him some clean lanes. That run defense, it's tough to get through those five on the line of scrimmage. They didn't go six on the line as much as they have on tape. But our guys blocked well. He got through there, and I thought he made a lot more plays than what he was just blocked for. And the receivers blocking on the outside -- everything -- it allows you to get those big ones. It would have been a much tougher day if we didn't get the big ones."
And maybe Mitchell's run -- and the win that followed -- will be the start of more success in the weeks ahead for the 49ers.
"There were a number of plays today," Garoppolo said. "Elijah played great, the O-Line played great, clean pockets, great blocking up front... But that play really summed it up. It felt different out there today. It did. And we've just got to keep this thing going now."
