CHICAGO -- Thanks to the Saints, the Falcons are still alive in the NFC South division race after getting pummeled by the snow and the Bears on Sunday in Chicago.
As light snow fell throughout the game, with brief stops, the Bears, led by quarterback Justin Fields and wide receiver DJ Moore, smacked the Falcons 37-17 before 61,752 hearty souls at Soldier Field.
”Credit to Chicago,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “They deserved to win today.”
The Bears improved to 7-9, while the Falcons dropped to 7-9 as quarterback Taylor Heinicke tossed three interceptions. However, with the Saints’ 23-13 victory over the Buccaneers, the Bucs and Saints are tied for first place at 8-8. If the Bucs lose to the Panthers (2-14) next week and the Falcons beat the Saints, the Falcons would win the division with an 8-9 record because of the best division record at 4-2.
However, against the Bears, the Falcons did not look like a playoff team nor a division titlist. Desmond Ridder came on to close out the game when things got out of hand and he promptly tossed a fourth interception.
“When you turn the ball over, its hard to win,” Heinicke said.
The offense could not sustain drives.
“Early on, we (took) a couple of shots, but didn’t come away with any points,” Smith said. “We didn’t really get anything going.”
Defensively, the Falcons couldn’t take away the Bears’ top receiver Moore, who turned in a monster game. Moore had nine catches for 159 yards and a touchdown. Fields completed 20 of 32 passes for 268 and a touchdown. Fields also had a rushing touchdown.
“He put the ball right on the money,” Falcons defensive end Calais Campbell said. “That’s the best he’s been. I’ve seen him a lot. I think he flashed a lot. Today he was a premier NFL quarterback.”
Heinicke completed 10 of 29 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown. He finished with a passer rating of 26.
With one more road game left, the Falcons have posted a 2-6 record on the road this season.
“We’re a much better team than we’ve played this year,” Campbell said. “If we handle our business and get some help from Carolina, I think we’ll be a scary team to play in the playoffs.”
A composed Fields, who the Falcons passed on in the 2021 NFL draft to select tight end Kyle Pitts, led the Bears to a 21-7 halftime lead. Pitts finished with one catch for 5 yards on five targets.
Fields connected with his top receiver Moore several times, including a touchdown in the first half. He also ran for a touchdown and running back Roschon Johnson scored on a short run as the Falcons were unable to sustain much offense.
While the Falcons were misfiring on offense, the Bears put together scoring drives of 60, 68 and 75 yards.
The Falcons scored on a screen-pass to Tyler Allgeier that he took in 75 yards for a touchdown. The Falcons caught the Bears in a cornerback blitz by Kyler Gordon on the screen play. Allgeier received good blocks from guard Chris Lindstrom and wide receiver Scotty Miller on Eddie Jackson and later on Terrell Smith.
To start the game, the Falcons’ opening drive stalled and Younghoe Koo missed a 50-yard field goal attempt into the wind.
The Bears, with Fields completing a 32-yard pass to Moore on their first offensive play, went on the move. On the seventh play of the drive, Fields tossed a nice pass to Moore in the back of the end zone with Jessie Bates III in coverage for the touchdown.
“I think the score doesn’t really show us how competitive the game actually was at one point,” Bates said. “I kind of put it on myself starting with that first drive. The very first play.”
The Falcons stalled on their next drive and Koo missed a 42-yard field goal attempt.
The Bears went back on the move with Fields finding Moore for another 32-yard gain up the left sideline with A.J. Terrell in coverage. Five plays later, Fields scored on a 9-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0.
The Falcons never recovered from the sluggish start.
“We talk about starting fast and we gave up an out-and-up for about 50 (actually 32 yards),” Bates said. “Then they go and score a touchdown. Our goal is to come in here and start fast. We didn’t do that. As one of the leaders of our team, I put the blame on myself.”
The Falcons answered with their big screen pass to make it 14-7.
“It was great blocking all around,” Allgeier said. “Shout out to the (offensive) lineman and the wide receivers for blocking and creating a crease. It was good.”
After an exchange of punts, the Bears cobbled together a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was capped by Johnson’s 1-yard run to make it 21-7.
After another exchange of punts, Heinicke tossed an interception to linebacker T.J. Edwards. The Bears stalled and Cairo Santos’ 55-yard field goal attempt was nearly returned for a touchdown by Dee Alford. He was tripped up by Chicago’s Robert Tonyan at the Bears’ 13 after a 96-yard return.
“It was just a play where I’m trying to make a spark for my team going into halftime,” Alford said. “Those type of plays, you have make something out of nothing. We came up short, but other than I still feel like it was a good play. We just have to finish it.”
To open the third quarter, the Bears stayed with their pattern of throwing to Moore early. This time Moore, the former Carolina Panther, got open for a 28-yard gain with Richie Grant in coverage. The drive stalled and Santos added a 22-yard field goal to make it 24-7.
The Falcons finally got moving and drove down to the Bears’ 19, but the drive stalled. Koo made a 38-yard field goal to make it 24-10.
After stopping the Bears on downs, Heinicke tossed his second interception of the game to Tyrique Stevenson.
Santos added a 42-yards field goal with 1:10 left in the third quarter, to give the Bears a three-score lead.
Heinicke added a 24-yard touchdown run. The defense forced a punt, but the Falcons were forced to punt. Santos added a 42-yard field goal to put the Bears up 30-17 with 4:59 to play.
“They held the ball for a long tie today, which is kind of their m.o. (modus operandi),” Smith said. “We didn’t do enough to win.”
The Falcons will close out their regular season with a game at the Saints either on Saturday or Sunday. The date and time has not been determined by the league.
