SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The final drive was likely as familiar a feeling to the San Francisco 49ers as it was for the Chicago Bears — even though Sunday night was their first meeting this season.

The Niners had to have seen that script on tape: 2 minutes and 15 seconds to go, the Bears down 4 points, with 85 yards between them and yet another fourth-quarter comeback. The Bears had done such a feat a league-high six times already.

But the 49ers did what those other teams couldn’t do: They bottled the genie by cutting off all avenues for Caleb Williams to pull off another magical throw on the final play.

And by doing so, they preserved a 42-38 win on “Sunday Night Football,” a prime-time shootout at Levi’s Stadium.

For Bears tight end Colston Loveland, it was another familiar feeling.

“Green Bay a couple of weeks ago,” he said, referring to another Bears’ would-be rally dying on Williams’ fourth-and-1 interception in the end zone to seal a 28-21 defeat at Lambeau Field on Dec. 7.

“Just been in that position before, coming up short. When you’re always seeming to be on the other side of it, it feels some type of way, for sure.”

Bears coach Ben Johnson had similar sentiments.

“That’s a tough one for our guys,” he said. “It’s somewhat similar there to the Green Bay game a few weeks ago, just in terms of coming down to the last minute and the last play of the game, and just coming up one play short there.”

And like that game, in which Williams slightly underthrew Cole Kmet on a ball that Keisean Nixon picked off for the Packers, the Bears felt like the final play against the 49ers came down to small failures in execution that led to missed opportunities.

“We ended up getting lined up with not much time, and we were slightly lined up wrong, and I didn’t have enough time to be able to fix it — having the motion and things like that,” Williams said. “So we just had to try to make something out of nothing.

“We had a shot.”

Rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III, who caught six passes for a career-high 119 yards and a touchdown, figured prominently on the last drive.

“We’re not there,” Burden said. “Everyone battled. We came up short, man, and everybody in this locker room expects us to finish. So we’ve got to finish.”

Here’s a look at some key plays from the 15-play, 58-yard final series for the Bears — with some different perspectives on how it all unfolded.

The start

First-and-10 at the Chicago 35-yard-line with 2:15 left

D’Andre Swift kicked off the drive for the Bears with a 5-yard run.

Swift: They all shared the same mindset at the start of the series: “Go score.”

The drive extender

Third-and-10 at the San Francisco 45 with 1:09 left

Williams came up empty on passes to Loveland and Kmet. So on a do-or-die third down, he looked to the rookie Burden. Williams’ completion to Burden was good for 4 yards, then Burden faked out the 49ers’ Chase Lucas to gain another 10 yards — and a critical first down.

Burden was inactive last week during the Bears’ 22-16 win over the Packers at Soldier Field.

Williams: “It’s good to have Luther back, let’s put it that way. … It’s a problem when you get the ball in his hands. Just giving him a shot. Let him go make plays.”

Burden: “Somebody gotta step up and make a play. I got confidence in everybody. Whoever gets the ball is going to make a play.”

The hook and ladder

Second-and-10 at the San Francisco 13 with 21 seconds left

Williams threw 2 yards to Loveland, who tossed a lateral to Swift, who ran an additional 9 yards but was 2 yards short of the goal line.

Williams had to spike the ball on the next play to preserve the remaining 4 seconds.

Loveland: “They pursued the ball well on defense. Thought maybe they would bite on that one a little harder. Still a good play; got us to the 2-yard line. I mean, we had a chance.”

Johnson: “Yeah, I am (OK with calling a play where the player can be tackled inbounds with the clock running). There’s plenty of time, and we have plenty of good plays.”

Williams: “We were going for it. That’s who we are. That’s how Coach likes to call it, it’s how I like to play. We go for it, we go for the win.”

The final play

Second-and-goal from the San Francisco 2 with 4 seconds left

Williams was flushed from the pocket and rolled left. He desperately scanned the field looking for an angle that wouldn’t be cut off by a defender or risk a pass catcher being caught short of the goal line.

With 49ers defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos bearing down on him, the quarterback had a few options and threw to Jahdae Walker in the end zone as Williams was backpedaling.

The pass was too low for the receiver to catch it.

Johnson: “We didn’t quite get aligned in the formation we wanted to. It’s on me. I didn’t give Caleb the call fast enough, so he’s trying to piecemeal it together.”

Williams: “I haven’t gone back and watched it yet, but I think I ended up dirting the ball, didn’t get my legs into it. Just put the ball in the end zone in that moment. … Can’t dirt the ball.”

Loveland: “We could take some good out of this. Clean up the tape. It’s a good slap in the face, kind of a reality check to get back on track, tighten up the little things a little more.”

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