SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Chicago Bears didn’t find another crazy way to lose late Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers, as they had in four of their last six games.

They faltered early and often at Levi’s Stadium, giving up 319 yards and 24 points in the first half and losing en route to a 38-13 loss – their seventh straight.

Interim coach Thomas Brown, who made his head coaching debut 10 days after the Bears fired Matt Eberflus, said: “We got our asses kicked. There’s no other way to say it.”

The Bears’ defense, working under new defensive play caller Eric Washington, had a particularly tough night.

The 49ers, decimated by injuries this season, did not score more than 17 points in any game and did not gain more than 277 total yards.

The 49ers surpassed those numbers in the first half against the Bears. Quarterback Brock Purdy had 258 of his 325 passing yards and two touchdowns in the half, and tight end George Kittle had 138 of his 155 receiving yards.

“It was really just explosive plays that hurt us today,” linebacker TJ Edwards said. “It was simply because we didn’t implement what we had prepared for this week.”

Bears players said most of the right things during a chaotic week at Halas Hall as they tried to recover from the sudden changes in the building, including the firing of their defensive player of the past three seasons. They were confident the new leadership would help turn things around after some of Eberflus’ late decisions were tested in several narrow defeats.

Instead, things looked as bad as they have all season, as the Bears gave up 452 yards, the second-most yards by an opponent this season.

However, the players did not blame the change or the chaotic week afterwards. You put it on yourself. Edwards and safety Kevin Byard said they had a good week of practice and preparation. Both pointed out that there will be things they don’t see in the film that will appear in the game.

The Bears, Byard said, “got their asses screaming.”

“The coaches aren’t out there playing,” Byard said. “We are the ones out there on the field. We bring the product to market. Ultimately I just try to look in the mirror. I feel like I didn’t play well today. I would probably say that anyone you talk to will say the same thing: They didn’t play well enough today. That’s the reality: you don’t play well, you lose games, you get eliminated.”

Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who expressed his frustration to Eberflus in the visiting Detroit Lions’ locker room after the Thanksgiving loss, kept his explanations brief on Sunday. But he echoed Byard’s comments about how the upheaval did not contribute to the defeat.

“No,” Johnson said. “We didn’t execute.”

How surprising was this lack of implementation?

“Very surprising,” he said.

The 49ers had eight plays of more than 20 yards – all but one in the first half – including five of 30 or more yards.

Purdy made it look easy on the 49ers’ first touchdown drive with consecutive passes of 23 and 33 yards to running backs Isaac Guerendo and Kittle on the drive. Kittle had a 32-yard catch on the second touchdown drive, a 23-yarder on the third and a 32-yarder on the final drive of the half that ended in a field goal.

“He had a few screens,” Edwards said of Kittle. “He’s an elusive guy. He does a lot for them in terms of protection, route running and yards after catch, he’s really good at that too. Yeah, he just made things happen and we didn’t.”

Purdy had a season-high 145.4 passer rating. Guerendo, a rookie who made his first start in place of injured Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason, rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns and also had two catches for 50 yards. Jauan Jennings had seven catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns.