Falcons lament slow start in loss to Bears: ‘Really, really disappointing’

With his team facing fourth-and-3, his deficit at 21-7 early in the third quarter and his offense teetering between flat and listless, Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski stood on the sideline, eyed his players and clapped his hands.

Stefanski opted to go for it. He wanted to create life. He liked offensive coordinator Tommy Rees’ play-call against the Bears’ defense. Then, he watched as quarterback Michael Penix Jr. bobbled the snap, fired an incomplete pass and jogged to the bench after Stefanski’s gamble turned unsuccessful.

On the sideline, Stefanski remained stoic. He was more frustrated by the multiphase shortcomings that put the Falcons in a position of desperation, trying to dig out of a hole that ultimately proved too deep to climb from.

Such was the story Sunday afternoon for the Falcons (2-4), who fell 31-23 to the Bears (4-2) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in a game where execution proved far too hard to find for three quarters.

The Falcons’ offense totaled three yards on six plays in the first quarter and 97 net yards in the first half overall. Through its first nine drives, Atlanta punted four times, failed to convert on fourth down three times, fumbled a kickoff and scored one touchdown.

“To start like we started is really, really disappointing,” Stefanski said postgame. “I just felt like we beat ourselves. They beat us, the Bears beat us, we also beat us, and that’s really frustrating.”

Stefanski said the Falcons “talked at length about starting fast in this ballgame,” and ultimately didn’t. He put the blame on himself and the coaching staff.

“We’ve got to get that fixed, because we just put ourselves in the hole,” Stefanski said. “Disappointed. I’ll have to look at how we start and make sure that we are putting our guys in position, but we will own that one, and we will move on.”

The Falcons started with back-to-back three-and-outs on offense. They put themselves in third-and-long situations, which Stefanski said is a “tough place to live” against Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, and couldn’t stay out of them.

Chicago entered Sunday with the league’s second-best third-down defense, and it held Atlanta to just three conversions on 12 attempts — only four coming on distances shorter than third-and-8.

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson said the team needed to run the ball better on first and second downs. Perhaps they needed to run the ball more, period. The league’s second-ranked rushing offense totaled just 12 carries for 63 yards, a staggering 47 yards below its previous season-low.

And although the Falcons’ offense sputtered in the first half, Robinson was efficient, rushing for 51 yards on just four carries. Stefanski wishes they’d given him the ball more frequently.

“Without a doubt,” Stefanski said. “Of course. That’s game flow, etc. I get that part but, that’s part of us needing to play way better early, so we can execute a game plan.”

Given their early deficit, the Falcons largely turned away from the run game and leaned on Penix’s arm, a strategy that didn’t net the desired results through three quarters. Penix was 8-for-16 passing for 73 yards and one touchdown while taking four sacks entering the final period.

Stefanski said the passing game improved for “all of the above” in the fourth quarter, be it pass protection, the quickness of Penix’s release and the explosive plays that followed. But he rued the slow start that rendered back-to-back scoring drives all for naught.

“We just need to do a better job installing the game plan,” Stefanski said. “We’ve got to do a better job of executing the game plan. But, give them credit.”

Penix completed 10-of-12 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns in as many drives to bring the Falcons within one score in the fourth quarter. He said execution is the only thing that changed.

The Falcons carried confidence and comfortability in their game plan coming in. Penix said he “loved” it. They were prepared. They merely didn’t show it through their execution.

“We’ve just got to come ready to play, and we’ve got to execute,” Penix said. “We’ve just got to execute the simple things. We always have a great game plan. … We knew what to expect. It’s not like they went out there and did too many things that surprised us.

“So, for us as an offense, we got to go out and execute at a high level and not start slow. We’ve got to figure out a way to start fast.”

Whatever those answers are may prove to be the key to the Falcons righting the ship after back-to-back losses.

“It’s those little things right there where that’s the difference between a win and a loss in this league,” Robinson said. “We’ve got to be better.”

Stefanski was proud of the Falcons’ fight. They had little hope, little reason for optimism, trailing by 24 points in the fourth quarter. To claw back and have the ball with a chance to tie warrants such emotions from the team’s first-year coach.