FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons’ faint playoffs hopes will turn, in part, on how well they do on the road.
It’s a place that has not been kind to the 2023 Falcons, who are (7-8) and set to face the Bears (6-9) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago and will follow that with a game at New Orleans.
“The fans are going to be (passionate),” Falcons assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray said of Sunday’s game. “They’re good fans. Trust me, and they are going to let you know they are good fans, Chicago fans.”
Before joining the Falcons, Gray spent the past nine seasons in the NFC North with the Vikings and the Packers, who are in the same division with the Bears.
The Bears are 4-3 at home and have won their past four games at Soldier Field.
“Going in there is not an easy place to win,” Gray said. “You can’t get rattled if they get the lead. You just have to keep pressing ... and then keep doing your job and not let it get out of hand.”
The Bears’ biggest win at home was over Detroit 28-13 on Dec. 10.
“That’s what people have done when they get in Chicago because the crowd is right on you,” Gray said. “You can actually shake their hands from the sidelines if you wanted to. It’s a tight stadium.”
The Falcons are 2-5 on the road, with bad losses at Tennessee, Arizona and Carolina.
The Falcons’ road wins were at Tampa Bay and at the New York Jets.
“Well, we have found a way to win a few at least,” coach Arthur Smith said. “Some of them have been, really the last two, Jets and Carolina, the weather’s been a factor, too.”
The Falcons have checked the projected weather conditions for the Windy City.
“I’m sure it will be cold in Chicago, but I think it’s going to be pretty clear, which will be nice,” Smith said. “That will be a change. I don’t know if I’ve been in many games like the Carolina one where it was wind and rain. Jets was similar to that. Found a way in New York, but certainly we need to play like we did (Sunday against the Colts).”
Smith likes how the Falcons rebounded from a bad loss to Arizona with a win over the Saints and from a bad loss to the Panthers with their best performance of the season in their win over the Colts.
“Both times we’ve hit adversity, New Orleans and this one, we’ve played our best football, so we need to bottle that up for sure,” Smith said.
This will be quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s second start on the road this season. He started at Arizona, and he came off the bench at Tennessee.
“As long as we don’t hurt ourselves with turnovers and penalties, I think this offense with whoever is at (quarterback) can go out and do great things,” Heinicke said. “It’s just taking away the self-inflicted wounds. If we are just playing clean football, this offense can do some great things.”
The offense scored on seven of 10 possessions in the 29-10 win over the Colts.
“Those long sustained drives, and when we get down in the red zone, get those points, whether it’s touchdowns or field goals,” Heinicke said. “That was the most complete game that we had all year.”
The Falcons also will face Bears defensive end Montez Sweat for the second time this season. He was traded to the Bears from Washington near the trade deadline.
“It helps when you add a dynamic rusher like that,” Smith said. “Also, as they got into the season and they got a little bit healthier, they’ve also found a rhythm on offense as well.”
Sweat has 12.5 sacks on the season. In Washington’s 24-20 win over the Falcons on Oct. 15, Sweat had only a tackle.
“He certainly impacts the game,” Smith said. “Talk about a player that we’ve seen a lot recently, from Washington. ... He’s a dynamic pass rusher. He has a unique way to do it, has rare length. He does a good job of getting off blocks. There is a reason he’s got double-digit sacks.”
Heinicke believes the Falcons’ approach to road games has been fine.
“I go back to the story of the year, it’s been the turnovers and self-inflicted wounds,” Heinicke said. “Not to take anything away from the opposing teams, they played great games. But we felt like we hurt ourselves in the process as well. If we go up there and play a clean game, we feel like we’ll have a chance to win.”
