SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the surest bets in the NFL is the Chicago Bears getting clowned in Candlestick Park. They don't just fly out and lose; the Bears, from all indications, head west completely unprepared and cowering, as if somewhere in the back of their minds they know they're going to be punked by the San Francisco 49ers. And they're right.

This Monday night was no different from all the others, eight games and counting to be exact, dating back to 1985. Once again, the Bears didn't show, didn't post. They left the visitors' locker room for the opening kickoff and went immediately into the fetal position.

Jason Campbell passed for 107 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in his first Bears start on Monday. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

It was 20-0 at halftime, by which point the 49ers had essentially beaten the Bears into submission. And while Mike Tice's offense was, well, offensive, uninspired and frighteningly amateurish, the defense, to great surprise, was just as bad in a 32-7 loss that was much more lopsided than the score might indicate.

A backup quarterback named Colin Kaepernick woke up Monday morning thinking he was Joe Montana and the Bears' defense sought to prove he wasn't dreaming. Kaepernick threw the ball to whomever he wanted, wherever on the field he wanted, daring any Bears defender to stop him. Poor Alex Smith can't be certain whether his biggest problem is the concussion he suffered last week or the extreme case of Wally Pipp-itis that came over him as he watched the game. Kaepernick completed nine of his first 10 passes and treated the Bears' defense, the second stingiest in the NFL coming into the game, like some homecoming doormat.

Frank Gore ran with the same disdain for the 49ers. Vernon Davis, Kyle Williams and Michael Crabtree frolicked uncovered all over the field. It was fair to wonder what Lovie Smith and his coaches did all week. They couldn't possibly have watched film or practiced, could they?

In Smith's tenure, his teams, even when not very good, have been as prepared as any in the NFL. Not this Monday night. The 49ers got angry and then resourceful after their hugely disappointing tie with St. Louis last week. The Bears apparently moped their way across the country after losing at home to the Houston Texans.

Tice trotted out a game plan that looked straight out of "Friday Night Lights." Handoff to Forte, Handoff to Forte, Jason Campbell sacked. Aldon Smith, the Niners' young beast of an outside linebacker, was the kid who looked like Lawrence Taylor Monday night, blasting through the Bears' joke of an offensive line for 5.5 sacks. Yes, five.

The most important acquisition, after Brandon Marshall, was signing Campbell so Jay Cutler's absence from the lineup wouldn't lead to complete offensive ineptitude the way it did last season when the team suffered through Caleb Hanie. Campbell, with 31 NFL victories, was going to enable the Bears to keep on keeping on if and when Cutler missed time. Campbell, we thought, could run an NFL offense; he did in Washington. Campbell could get the ball downfield with something on it. He has averaged essentially a touchdown per game during his time in the league. Monday night wasn't going to be a disaster because of the quarterback because the Bears had come up with the right guy to back up Cutler.

Instead, Campbell, operating behind an offensive line dangerous to its own quarterback's health, went into rope-a-dope early, like every other Bears quarterback who walks into Candlestick, going back to Jim McMahon. It's as sorry a chapter as you'll find in recent club history. After a 26-10 victory over the 49ers that officially launched the Bears' Super Bowl march in 1985, the 49ers have now gone 8-0 against the Bears in Candlestick. Three of those wins were in the playoffs. Three were shutouts. The average score of the first seven was 38-6. And included in the eight were games of 41-0, 26-0, 52-14, 44-15, 17-0 and 49-7.