Chicago (11-4) at San Francisco (11-4)
Sunday, 8:15 p.m. EST, NBC.
BetMGM NFL Odds: 49ers by 3.
Against the spread: Bears 9-5-1; 49ers 10-5.
Series record: 49ers lead 36-33-1.
Last meeting: 49ers beat Bears 38-13 Dec. 8, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif.
Last week: Bears beat the Packers 22-16 in OT; 49ers beat the Colts 48-27.
Bears offense: overall (5), rush (2), pass (14), scoring (10).
Bears defense: overall (24), rush (27), pass (18), scoring (19).
49ers offense: overall (9), rush (24), pass (5), scoring (9).
49ers defense: overall (18), rush (8), pass (23), scoring (11).
Turnover differential: Bears plus-21; 49ers minus-4.
DB Nahshon Wright forced a fumble last week and has 5 INTs, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles on the season. The only other player to hit those marks in the past 17 seasons was Minkah Fitzpatrick in 2019.
QB Brock Purdy became the first Niners QB to throw at least five TDs in a game last week since Steve Young did it in Super Bowl 29 a little more than 30 years ago. Purdy has thrown eight TD passes and only one INT the past two weeks and has multiple TD passes in five of his seven starts this season. Purdy leads the NFL with a 130 passer rating on third down this season.
Bears running game against 49ers defense. Chicago ranks second in the NFL in rushing and has had at least 138 yards in seven of the past eight games. The Niners rank third best in the NFL in allowing 87.4 yards per game since Week 11 and held Jonathan Taylor to 46 yards last week.
Bears: WR Luther Burden III (ankle) returned to practice on a limited basis after missing last week's game and could play this week. ... WR Rome Odunze (foot) and LB T.J. Edwards (glute) didn't practice to start the week and could be sidelined again this week.
49ers: TE George Kittle (ankle) left last week's game with an ankle injury and his status is in doubt this week. ... WR Ricky Pearsall (knee) could return after missing last week's game.
The teams have alternated wins and losses in the past nine meetings. ... The Bears are 2-1 all time at Levi's Stadium. ... The 49ers are 3-2 against the Bears under coach Kyle Shanahan. ... This marks the first time these teams are playing in a season when both made the playoffs since 2001 when Chicago beat San Francisco 37-31 in Week 7.
The Bears clinched a playoff spot last week and can clinch their first division title since 2018 with either a win or a loss by Green Bay. ... Chicago's plus-21 turnover margin is the second best for any team through 15 games in the past 13 seasons, behind only the plus-23 for the 2019 Patriots. ... The previous time the Bears finished a season plus-21 or better came in 1985 when they were plus-23 on the way to winning the franchise's only Super Bowl title. ... Chicago is the first team in NFL history to win six games after trailing in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. ... Bears TE Colston Loveland has at least three catches in 10 straight games for the fifth-longest streak by a rookie TE since the merger. ... Chicago QB Caleb Williams has nine TD passes and a 100.1 passer rating on third down. ... Pro Bowl DB Kevin Byard III leads the NFL with six INTs, the most by any Bears defender since 2018. ... The Bears haven't allowed an opening-drive score in seven straight games and have given an NFL-low 10 points on opening drives this season. San Francisco has five TDs and one FG on seven opening drives with Purdy at QB. ... The 49ers clinched their fourth playoff spot in the past five seasons last week and will earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC with wins in their final two games. ... San Francisco is 4-0 in prime-time games this season. ... The 48 points for the Niners last week were their most in a game since they also scored 48 against New Orleans on Dec. 8, 2019. ... San Francisco has gone back-to-back games without punting for the first time in franchise history. ... Christian McCaffrey's 92 catches this season are tied with Roger Craig in 1985 for the most by any running back in 49ers history. ... McCaffrey is second in the NFL with 1,888 yards from scrimmage and ranks third with 16 TDs. ... WR Jauan Jennings has at least one TD catch in four straight games, tied for the longest streak for a Niners player since Vernon Davis did it five games in a row in 2013. ... Jennings' seven TD catches since Week 9 are one off the NFL lead held by Davante Adams. ... Rookies Alfred Collins and C.J. West had their first career sacks last week, marking the first time San Francisco got sacks from two rookies in the same game since 2016. ... The 49ers rank second in the NFL converting 50% of third down opportunities.
Bears WR D.J. Moore is coming off a season-high 97 yards receiving last week, including the game-winning TD in overtime. He has three touchdown catches the past two games and five in the past five games and could be a good option with Chicago short-handed at receiver.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs against Indianapolis Colts outside linebacker Zaire Franklin (44) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Chicago Bears' Caleb Williams gets away from Green Bay Packers' Lukas van Ness during the second half of an NFL football game Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Huh)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) passes against the Indianapolis Colts during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Separatists in southern Yemen accused Saudi Arabia on Friday of targeting their forces with airstrikes, something not formally acknowledged by the kingdom after it warned the forces to withdraw from governorates they recently took over.
The Southern Transitional Council, backed by the United Arab Emirates, said the strikes happened in Yemen’s Hadramout governorate. It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any casualties from the strikes that further raise tensions in the war-torn nation and put at risk a fragile Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the country’s north for a decade.
Amr Al Bidh, a foreign affairs special representative for the Council, said in a statement to The Associated Press that its fighters had been operating in eastern Hadramout on Friday after facing “multiple ambushes” from gunmen. Those attacks killed two fighters with the Council and wounded 12 others, Al Bidh said.
The Saudi airstrikes happened after that, he added.
The Council later described their operations in the area as seeking a wanted man and trying to cut off smuggling through the area.
Faez bin Omar, a leading member in a coalition of tribes in Hadramout, told the AP that he believed the strikes served as a warning to the Council to withdraw its fighters from the area. An eyewitness to the strikes, Ahmed al-Khed, said he saw destroyed military vehicles afterward, believed to belong to forces allied to the Council.
The Council’s satellite channel AIC aired what appeared to be mobile phone footage it described as showing the strikes. In one video, a man speaking could be heard blaming the strike on Saudi aircraft.
Officials in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment from the AP. However, the Saudi-owned, London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, quoting “informed sources,” reported late Friday that the kingdom carried out the strikes “to send a message" to the Council.
“Any further escalation would be met with stricter measures,” the paper said.
On Thursday, the kingdom called on the Emirati-backed separatists in southern Yemen to withdraw.
The Council moved earlier this month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra. That had pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, another group in the coalition fighting the Houthis.
Those aligned with the Council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990. Demonstrators rallied on Thursday in the southern port city of Aden to support political forces calling for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.
Following the capture of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north by the Houthis in 2014, Aden has been the seat of power for the internationally recognized government and forces aligned against the rebels.
The actions by the separatists have put pressure on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which maintain close relations and are members of the OPEC oil cartel, but also have competed for influence and international business in recent years.
The UAE said in a statement Friday that it “welcomed the efforts undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support security and stability" in Yemen.
“The UAE reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting all endeavors aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen, contributing positively to regional security and prosperity,” it added.
There has also been an escalation of violence in Sudan, another nation on the Red Sea, where the kingdom and the Emirates support opposing forces in that country’s ongoing war.
The Iranian-backed Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. Iran denies arming the rebels, although Iranian-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen despite a U.N. arms embargo.
A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting have pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the globe’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
The Houthis, meanwhile, have launched attacks on hundreds of ships in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war, greatly disrupting regional shipping.
Further chaos in Yemen could again draw in the United States.
Washington launched an intense bombing campaign targeting the rebels earlier this year that U.S. President Donald Trump halted just before his trip to the Middle East in October. The Biden administration also conducted strikes against the Houthis, including using B-2 bombers to target what it described as underground bunkers used by the Houthis.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
A street vender rides his cart at along a street in Aden, Yemen, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a coalition of separatist groups seeking to restore the state of South Yemen, hold South Yemen flags and a poster of their leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi during a rally, in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo)
Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a coalition of separatist groups seeking to restore the state of South Yemen, hold a South Yemen flag during a rally, in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo)
People eat at a restaurant in Aden, Yemen, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
