The good news for both of these teams is that they played great defense against the run on Sunday night.
The bad news is that neither could run the ball.
Chicago’s leading rusher was quarterback Jay Cutler, whose 34 yards on three carries included a 30-yard scamper that kick-started a fourth-quarter, game-tying drive.
Starting tailback Matt Forte managed only 23 yards on 15 carries for the Bears, which equates to an average of 1.53 yards.
Michael Turner of the Falcons wasn’t much better, gaining 30 yards on 13 carries. Before leaving with a hip injury, Jerious Norwood gained 21 yards on four tries.
Without much in the way of rushing, sustained drives were hard to come by. The Bears got on the board first with a two-play, two-pass, 44-yard drive. The Falcons tied it up with a 40-yard Roddy White catch and run.
The Falcons took the lead before the half by putting together a 12-play, 64-yard effort that included only 17 rushing yards.
In the fourth quarter, the Bears knotted things up with that 30-yard Cutler scamper and then a bunch of passes, including a 41-yarder to tight end Greg Olsen.
The game could have ended in a 14-14 tie, through overtime, but for a 61-yard kickoff return from Eric Weems that gave the Falcons a short field for seven-play drive that included three running plays and a visit to the end zone by Turner.
The Bears then passed the ball exclusively during an effort to force overtime — even though a lurching false start by Orlando Pace on fourth and one from the Falcons’ five suggested that he was going to be attempting to push the pile on a running play.
So while the closing moments conjured excitement, this game had an odd, sluggish feel to it. Chicago seemed to be the better team, but they couldn’t capitalize on a 120-yard edge in total offense, thanks to two more Sunday night interceptions from Cutler.
Still, the Falcons should offer no apologies. They needed the win badly after seeing the Saints move to 5-0, and the Falcons got it, even if it wasn’t as pretty as last weekend’s body slam in San Fran.
The Bears badly needed the win, too, given the Packers’ pasting of the Lions and the Vikings’ lucky escape against the Ravens. And now, at 3-2, the Bears 2.5 games behind Minnesota and technically in third place in the NFC North after losing in Week One at Green Bay.
Bottom line? Both teams need to run the ball much better, or they’ll merely be jockeying for Week Seventeen wild-card berths, with the Falcons holding a tiebreaker edge that could result in the first year of the Cutler era ending without a berth in the tournament.
“Chicago seemed to be the better team” uhhhhh no they didn’t. Cutlers passes were off all night, they couldn’t run the ball and they stunk in the redzone. The Falcons played great goal line football. Just like the report of the Miami Falcons game you claimed the game was closer than the score would suggest which made it obvious you didn’t even watch the game because the Falcons dominated. You and Peter King can get off the Bear’s balls now please. Maybe if the Falcons draft someone of of West Virgina you can be on their nuts too just like the Dolphins.
Yeah, that game was sluggish.
Lots of good plays, big hits, but I found myself relieved when it didn’t go to OT and was able to just go to sleep.
If you look at the box score, the Bears dominated this game.
Give Mike Smith credit. His team is always ready to play and they just go out and win games.
another great goal line call by ron turner.let’s see we got down there by throwing the ball so let’s run it now!no matter that they have 9 guys waiting and he fummled it once we will run it wide and they won’t expect that!yea a p/a would not have worked so why bother we are a running team. I said his playcalling is what is going to kill them this year and so far he has not disapointed.notice the falcons scored using the no huddle and stayed with it cause the bears could not stop it unlike turner who refuses to run a play more tham 1 time if it works except that run up the middle 1 where evryone knows it’s coming.who cares if you can’t run as long as you are moving with the pass?when they decide to cover that then you run but not turner and the bears.
OKAY, listen here, my friends… the bears weren’t as prepared, after their bye, as well as the falcons were after their bye week when they sexually abused the san francisco weiners!!!
enough said….
ALSO, i would like to say, if i may, that mike smith looks like ‘THE JERK’, not ‘A’ jerk, but ‘THE JERK’ – as in the movie, starring Steve Martin!
Sorry FalconDevil, but Florio’s right here.
The Bears had two redzone turnovers and costly penalties on the final drive. If the Falcons played great D, they would have just stalled all three drives, leading to Robbie Gould field goals and a 23-21 Chicago win. The Bears played better football but made key mistakes. Atlanta didn’t win this game as much as Chicago lost it.
The Falcons played good football and escaped with a W. Be happy with that.
Bears never seem to have the “pop” other teams do after a bye week. Too many bad penalties and simple mistakes.
O-line got some upgrades in the off-season? I guess, but they can’t move a pile. Bears had the opportunity to go ahead or then tie it up, but kept choking.
Happy to see how Nick Roach played M LB. Tinoisamoa went down again though, haven’t found anything saying what happened.
The Falcons seriously lucked out on this one. They didnt get a first down until their 4th possession in the 2nd quarter. The Bears lost 3 easy TDs to turnovers.
The Falcons schedule is easy, other than NO, for the rest of the season too. So welcome to the playoffs.
“If the Falcons played great D, they would have just stalled all three drives, leading to Robbie Gould field goals and a 23-21 Chicago win.”
So if the Falcons had played better defense they would have lost? Comon thats ridiculous. Forcing turnovers in the redzone is GREAT D. Allowing a team to settle for field goals is ok D. The Matt Forte fumble turnover happened twice in a row. The Falcons play bend but don’t break D, check their stats on points allowed and they are top 5. Yards don’t equal points.
FalconDevil is delusional… The better team CLEARLY lost last night. Bears need to eliminate dumb mistakes if they want to be a playoff team. They beat themselves.
“thanks to two more Sunday night interceptions from Cutler.”
I guess you conveniently ignored Matty Ice’s two Ints as well. Try to be less obvious next time you want to be a biased, hack of a writer.
“So if the Falcons had played better defense they would have lost?”
rofl, thank you.
great defense is when you force turnovers and recover them. great defense is when you break on a pass and intercept it and not drop it.
did the falcons not have two INTs and a fumble (that the bears failed to recover), matt ryan threw a pass that should have been caught that jenkins tipped and let it get picked IN THE REDZONE. so by your logic if the bears played better D the falcons would have got a field goal there and the game would have been out of reach at the end?
bears were not better. they couldnt get more than 2 yards on a carry. cutler made some good throws and some bad ones. atlantas offense was off beat the entire game and still scored 21 points, atlanta won on special teams, atlanta won in the clutch situations.
you dont play better and lose, thats impossible.
Bears were up 7-0 in 1st quarter and were alraedy in FG range when Cutler threw his first pick. Forte the least likely RB to fumble at the goal line fumbles on consecutive plays, Lance Briggs drops a fumble that would have gone for 6, 12 men on the field to convert a Falcon punt into a 1st down and eventual ponts and 9 penalties. Safe to say Bears gave this game away on a silver platter. You can make those mistakes and still beat the Lions but not against a solid team like Falcons and especially not on the road.
Falcons were p by 7 in the 4th quarter and were already in FG range when Ryan threw his 2nd pick. Turner fumbled also on the bears side of the field, bears were dumb and didnt get on it. You cant say it would have gone for six if he didnt even pick the ball up. Falcons didn’t have any penalties? Matt ryan didnt miss on throws?
You cant take away the mistakes by one team and leave the others and say they would have won, thats the dumbest thing ive ever heard.
If the titans handed the patriots that game, they would have one if it wasnt for all those mistakes.
“you don’t play better and lose. thats impossible.”
Okay, and the better candidate always wins the election too huh? If life were only so simplistic.
Cutler airmailing it over Olsen’s head for that INT was not the result of pressure or good coverage. It was just a bad throw.
Pace jumping on 4th and 1 was not the result of good defense. It was just a mental mistake.
The Bears stupidly have 12 men on the field in punt coverage. Again, not the result of good Atlanta play.
It was these plays, not a Matt Ryan throw or Michael Turner run, that were the turning points in the game. The better athletic team made more mental mistakes and in the end it cost them the game.
Kudos to the Falcons for not making the mental mistakes, sure. But the highlights from this game are the Bears throwing it away, not the Falcons winning it.
jd:
Playing the AFC East and NFC East is an easy schedule? WTF? It was noted in the beginning of the season that we had the 2nd toughest schedule in the league this year!! STFU jd. Welcome to the playoffs? PLAYOFFS?!? are you kidding me?
If the Saints continue to play the way they do, we will need a wild card and I don’t see that happening…
lol comparing a football game to an election.. this isnt the BCS.
matt ryan made two mistakes didnt he? how come we cant take his away and say it should have been a blowout? since you want to take the bears away and say they SHOULD have won..
if the falcons played mistake free and the bears dropped a touchdown pass on the last play, youd have a case. neither of those things are true.
the falcons won, they made more plays, they made less mistakes. thats how teams win.
the highlights? roddy out running the entire bears d. weems 62 yard return. the falcons no huddle to end the half. decoud breaking on a route and halting the bears first drive. falcons d making 2 goalline stands.
sounds like falcon highlights to me.. smh