CHICAGO -- Here’s what Falcons coach Arthur Smith had to say after the 37-17 loss to the Bears:
Q. How do you square a performance like this in a game you all needed to help yourselves to the playoffs?
A. “Yeah, obviously Chicago deserved to win that game. We didn’t do enough, clearly, to win. That’s ultimately my responsibility. When you go into a game and you’ve got opportunities and don’t take advantage early, they make plays, and they did -- we had plenty of opportunities in this game, and then ultimately when you turn the ball over four times, don’t get any takeaways, that’s a recipe for a bad result. But credit to Chicago. They deserved the win.”
Q. What did they do against your offense which had trouble sustaining things today?
A. “Yeah, I thought early on we hit a couple shots but didn’t come away with any points. A couple of the stuff, when we were in kind of some heavier drop-back stuff later, really right before the half, too, we didn’t really get anything going. Hats off to them, too, they held the ball for a long time today, which certainly was kind of their MO, and we didn’t do enough clearly to win.”
Q. Why do you think this team came out flat offensively?
A. “Well, I didn’t think it was flat offensively. You move down and you get into scoring range, I wouldn’t call that flat. Now, did we score touchdowns? Absolutely not. And we missed a couple field goals. I wouldn’t call that flat. But credit to them. They’ve got good players on their side. They hit some one-on-ones -- they hit the shot to start the game, first drive kind of got them down there, and then the second drive I believe they hit the one to Moore. That’s kind of how it went early on. Then certainly we didn’t do enough later on and turned the ball over.”
Q. In the passing game, was he holding it too long…
A. “It’s never one thing. For me to sit here and try to put blame on one person, that’s not how football works. A lot of things obviously that didn’t go right. Didn’t get the result we wanted or needed, but usually it’s not ever on one person.”
Q. You mentioned the first drive. You guys were moving the ball pretty well and then it seemed like that direct snap call really put you guys ...
A. “There’s risk in every call. Same thing goes with the quarterback and he drops it. We’ve had that happen before, too. I’ve got a lot of faith in Bijan, so try and put the ball in our best player’s hand, whether the quarterback takes it and hands it or he takes it directly. Did it last week on the goal line. Obviously at that point it didn’t work.”
Q. (DJ) Moore obviously is a good player for them and I’m sure he’s a focus of your game plan but it seemed like he found a lot of space out there.
A. “He did. He did. And credit to them, they found him. Again, some of it was the rush plan, trying to keep him in the pocket, and at times we got to him. He did convert a third down, got out of a sack, and then obviously Moore got open a bunch in a lot of different coverages.”
Q. Why is it you guys haven’t been able to -- playing as well as you did last week against Indianapolis and then to play like this today, it seems like that’s happened multiple times this season.
A. “Well, today is probably the one that -- first time maybe since London we didn’t convert the 4th down, but that was late in the fourth quarter. So it hasn’t happened a bunch. Certainly hasn’t happened a bunch the last two years I would say. Cincinnati felt close to that. Again, we were down a shot, down 10 late, and we went three-and-out. Again, credit to Chicago. Then we threw another pick, and they popped the run, and they punched it in, so that made it 20 points.”
Q. I know you said you can’t pin it on one guy, but what did you think of the way Taylor played today?
A. “Look, he was playing through it today. Obviously as the game went on, clearly he made the one run, but later as the game went on you could tell his ankle was hurting him. There’s a lot of things that I don’t want to overreact without watching the film.”
Q. Will you stay with him next weekend, or is it too early to talk about that?
A. “We’re just going to go in there and see who’s healthy tomorrow and who’s not.”
Q. This is the first one since probably your first year that’s really gotten away from you at the end. Did you feel like that was circumstantial or do you feel like this is a group that’s kind of tired?
A. “I know the narrative you’re trying to go down. It’s a 10-point game, and then we’re going for it, turned the ball over once, twice, I can’t even remember. We were kind of backed up. We had the ball, down 10, and then I believe they made it 13, right? They made a play and they kicked a field goal, and then obviously the last one they broke the run, and then they ended up punching it in. I wouldn’t call that -- when we’re sitting there in the second quarter, third quarter. Now, final score, clearly not what you want, but there was things leading up to that, especially when you’re going for it and you’re in obvious pass situations, but we did that to ourselves.”
Q. For clarity, did Desmond come in for Taylor because of the ankle?
A.: “Yes. Same thing with Neuzil for Drew (Dalman).”
Q. In terms of how you handle this week now, you guys are still.
A. “Yeah, we’ve got to win.”
Q. What do you tell them?
A. “I mean, you tell them every week. It’s the National Football League. Like every week is a grind. It’s the most competitive league. We’ve got life. As bad as this one feels, I don’t know that you would tell them anything different. We’ve got to go win this game.”
Q. How do you guys to move on at this point?
A. “You put everything in to win. That’s our job. That’s what being a professional is. This one happens to mean something. That’s the only difference in terms of possible playing extra. I mean, if you don’t do your job and you’ve got a game to play in the National Football League, something is wrong with you.”
Q. After you get the 24-yard touchdown that cut it to 10, I believe, then you get a stop and we’ve got a chance to further get back in the game, what are you all thinking at that point?
A. “Yeah, obviously go get a touchdown. That’s the one I believe we went pretty quick three-and-out. We had the one I believe over to Drake, didn’t get completed. 2nd down, ball got away. 3rd down, that just sat at the sticks, and we punted, I believe, and that’s when they got the 1st down, right, kicked a field goal? Yeah. Then the next one we went, that was the pick, I believe, on 4th down, and they punched in the touchdown. They got the 10 points late.
Q. Why can’t this team have a level of consistency?
A. “Well, I mean, certainly you’re talking about just in the win column. But there’s consistency in a lot of different things. I mean, our job is to win. We lost a couple games in the last second. Get a tackle here or different play on offense, you win the game. I guess that’s considered consistency you’re talking about. But in the win column, yeah, obviously there hasn’t been enough.”
Q. You’ve talked about resilience throughout the year. Do you still sense that? I know it’s right after the game.
A. “Yeah, absolutely. There is another team out there. We didn’t play well enough, but you’ve got to give credit to Chicago. They had a say in it, too. Clearly, you lose, it’s my job to get us ready, and we didn’t obviously get the result we needed or wanted, but got to give credit to Chicago, as well. Both things can be true.”
