CHICAGO – Falcons quarterback Taylor Heinicke couldn’t work his backup quarterback magic for a second week in a row.
Heinicke led the Falcons to a convincing 29-10 win over the Colts on Christmas Eve, but couldn’t generate enough offense in the 37-17 loss to the Bears on Sunday at historic Soldier Field.
The Falcons opened with two promising drives that stalled and kicker Younghoe Koo missed field goal attempts for 50 and 42 yards into the wind. Heinicke led the Falcons to scoring drives on 7 of-10 possessions against the Colts.
The win over the Colts was the Falcons’ second this season over a team with a winning record. They had some momentum coming into the showdown with the Bears. But with their playoffs in the balance and a chance to improve them, the offense fell flat on its face.
Heinicke completed 10 of 29 passes for 162 yards and tossed three interceptions. He left the game with an left ankle injury after it got stepped on in the fourth quarter. Desmond Ridder came on to finish out the game and he promptly threw his 11 interception of the season.
“It the same thing for most of the year,” Heinicke said. “We turn the ball over. We can’t do that. Especially, against this team with how they play in this weather. Can’t give them short fields. Can’t turn the ball over. Got to play clean football. There are spurts of where we did that and there were some where we didn’t. So, we have to clean it all up.”
The passing attack never got moving.
“They didn’t do anything different from what we seen on film,” Heinicke said. “Maybe some of the pressure stuff on third downs. The different fronts that they used that we’ve seen on film. They didn’t do that today. It was more vanilla. They just played a great game. They just beat us. ... Right now, I think they just beat our (behind).”
The Falcons’ offense basically generated one big play, a 75-yard screen pass to running back Tyler Allgeier.
“Great play call,” Heinicke said. “They brought a blitz. It worked perfectly. They brought the nickel. Tyler kind of bluffed him and made him think he was going to block him. Slipped outside. It was the perfect play-call for that defensive call. We executed it perfectly.”
Allgeier was the leader in receiving yards. Wide receiver Drake London had four catches for 56 yards. Bijan Robinson had 3 catches for 11 yards and tight end Kyle Pitts had a catch for 5 yards.
Heinicke was in a walking-boot after the game.
“I wouldn’t say it affected me that much,” Heinicke said. “It was in the back of my mind whether if I was transferring weight on throws and things like that. I could kind of feel it.”
Heinicke is not sure if he’ll be ready for the regulars-season finale.
“We’ll see how it feels tomorrow and go from there,” Heinicke said. “Right now, I could start to feel it later in the game. On the second to last throw, I think someone stepped on my foot. That’s when I started to feel it a little bit. A little sharp pain. But other than that I don’t think it really affected me. I just have to play better.”
In addition to Allgeier’s big-play, Heinicke did score on a 24-yard scramble to make it 27-17 with 12:22 to play.
“Once you are in the heat of the battle, that adrenaline takes over and you just go,” Heinicke said. “On most of those scrambles I wasn’t feeling (the ankle). It was mostly on the sidelines or when you are just sitting there in the huddle in the cold. It kind of creeps in your mind, but again, I just have to play better.”
Allgeier didn’t have an explanation for why the offense couldn’t get into a rhythm.
“That’s the main, thing consistency,” Allgeier said. “That’s our main goal, just to be more consistent. If we are more consistent, we can feed off each other, offense, defense and special teams. That’s what we strive to be.”
Allgeier got a little tired at the end of his long run.
“Did it show ... .if so then, yes,” Allgeier said. “The last 20 was a little push, but it was a great finish by Scott Miller with the block.”
