The Falcons take on the Bears Sunday in the first non-primetime game in weeks, and both teams are heading into this one with questions around the quarterback position.
Michael Penix Jr. is expected to be fine to play on Sunday, despite leaving Week 5’s loss to the Ravens on Sunday Night Football with a rib injury. Penix said Wednesday that even though he experienced some discomfort during practice, he felt good overall and ready to play.
Caleb Williams is a different story. Williams, who has been out
for the past few weeks after suffering a hamstring injury, remains on the injury report but was able to participate fully in practice all week. Ben Johnson hasn’t committed to a starter, though, and Williams isn’t sure if he’ll play this week. That does make it a little more difficult to know what to expect on Sunday.
Bill Zimmerman at Windy City Gridiron was kind enough to answer my questions about the Bears and give us a glimpse of how this matchup may go from a Bears perspective. If you’d like to check out my answers to his Falcons questions, you can find those here.
If Caleb Williams starts this week—and I expect he will—what should the Falcons expect from him on the field?
Well, that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? I mean, we’ve seen Caleb Williams play one game this season in good conditions, and the offense scored 59 points. We really don’t know how healthy he is at this point. Is he close to 100% or is he good enough to play?
Now, before we fully dive into Caleb Williams, we have to at least look at the chance that he will not play. Caleb Williams said his status is uncertain, and Ben Johnson hasn’t committed to a QB. If Williams isn’t quite ready to play, the question is whether the Bears go back to Case Keenum after Tyson Bagent’s dreadful performance against the Green Bay Packers. It’s a unique situation where any of the three QBs could start on Sunday, but I do agree with you; I expect Williams to play.
Williams is a rhythm QB and tends to get better as the game goes on. That being said, since he hasn’t played in a month and you have to figure, he will be a little rusty. You also have to wonder if he’s going to rely on his hamstring and be as fully mobile as he usually is, where he can escape the pocket and also take off and gain yards on the ground.
If I tried to give you my best guess, I think Caleb Williams plays, and we see about an 85% version of Caleb where he tries to stay in the pocket a little more often and tries to operate in structure and does a little less of his scrambling around and play hero ball, which makes all the highlight reels.
The Bears are 3-2 despite losing Williams to the hamstring injury for a few weeks — speaking for a fanbase that hasn’t seen any good backup quarterback play throughout this very weird start to the season, what’s their secret?
There are a few things that have played into this, but the biggest thing is the running game. D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, behind a strong offensive line, took the pressure off Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent and kept the defense off the field. Monangai is out with turf toe, and the Bears don’t have a great RB2 to pair with Swift when he’s out, so that definitely was an issue against Green Bay last week.
The Bears defense has also played surprisingly well in three of their five games. Can Dennis Allen keep the magic going against Atlanta? It’ll be even tougher because it looks like Montez Sweat (suspension), Dayo Odeyingbo (injury), and TJ Edwards (injury) are also out. Bears fans are hopeful that Kyler Gordon returns this week, and the Bears desperately need him.
How should the Bears try to contain Bijan Robinson and the Falcons run game?
I think the best chance is to convince Robinson the game is at 4:25 and steal his cell phone so no one can get a hold of him.
I don’t think the Bears have the personnel to stop him if we’re being honest. Sweat is very good at setting the edge in the run game, but I don’t know how well that’s going to go with him out. Austin Booker doesn’t play the run as well as he rushes the passer. I think the Bears are going to have to try and load the box a little and hope the Falcons can’t beat them over the top with Drake London, something that Jordan Love did constantly even without the Bears packing the box.
I have significant concerns about the Bears defense coming into this game with the injuries they have. I was honestly hoping Michael Penix was going to miss this one and stunt the Falcons offense. I think Bijan and Drake can both have big games on Sunday.
The Bears OL is about middle-of-the-pack this season in QB pressures allowed, and the Falcons have been effective at pressuring opposing QBs this season even with depleted pass rusher ranks. How does Williams’ expected return change that estimation?
That will depend on whether Williams has his usual mobility in the pocket. Last year, the Bears were one of the 10 worst teams in pressures allowed by one of the top 5 in least sacked. That was partially because Caleb occasionally holds onto the ball longer hunting for big plays, but the bottom line is Williams’ sack avoidance was so good last year that it prevented so many negative plays and was a huge help to the offense.
If Williams has his traditional mobility, it certainly will help with the sack numbers. But overall, the Bears have a strong offensive line. It’s probably stronger at blocking the run than the pass, but there are plenty of concerns for the Bears heading into this game; I think their offensive line isn’t one of them.
How do Bears fans feel about Grady Jarrett? We still love him here in Atlanta, and it’s going to be very difficult to root against him this week!
When the Bears first signed Jarrett last March, Bears fans were tap dancing. Everyone was excited that Jarrett was going to boost their defensive line, but unfortunately, Jarrett’s 2025 was pretty rough and got plenty of fans agitated with his performance.
Jarrett played through a lot of injuries during the 2025 season, and that probably played into his performance, but heading into last offseason, most fans (myself included) just looked at Jarrett as a guy the Bears just have to have for one more season before most of his guaranteed money was up and they could cut him after the 2026 season.
All that being said, Grady Jarrett has played quite well this season. Jarrett isn’t the guy he was 6 or 7 years ago, but he’s making an impact this year. Jarrett may not be chalking up the traditional stats like sacks, but he is sixth among defensive tackles in pass-rush win rate and second in run-block win rate. Jarrett is winning his blocks and impacting the game in both the run and the pass.
You asked earlier how the Bears can stop Bijan Robinson. A big part of it would have to be a pretty huge game from the former Falcon, Grady Jarrett.
