The Atlanta Falcons made it interesting at the end, but the hole they dug themselves against the Chicago Bears proved too deep to get out of. Despite a valiant comeback effort in the fourth quarter they went on to lose, 31-23 in a home game that became a road game thanks to a well-travelled Bears fanbase.
Atlanta struggled in a lot of areas. However, the most costly was another slow start by quarterback Michael Penix, who had exactly one strong drive into he first half and didn't really get into a rhythm until the Falcons were trailing by 24 points in the final stanza.
Coming out of another frustrating loss, Marc Raimondi at ESPN has posed the most-important question for this team: how do they get Penix through this?
"What can the Falcons do if
Michael Penix Jr.'s rib injury -- and struggles -- continue to be an issue? One thing they need to do is protect Penix better. For the game, Penix was pressured on 46% of his dropbacks, and he was blitzed at the second-highest rate of his career. He was 1-of-4 with three sacks when pressured. That was an issue in last week's loss to the Ravens. Penix is not a very mobile QB, so Atlanta needs to figure out a way to keep a cleaner pocket or call plays that take a shorter time to develop..."
The simplest answer to that question is that the Falcons have to start games better and establish an early lead. That will enable them to embrace the rushing attack that was so lethal in dominant wins over Green Bay and New Orleans.
Penix has clearly grown his game a lot since last season, but he's still not good enough to carry this team to wins when he has to play from behind and pump up his passing volume. Bijan Robinson is still this team's best offensive weapon, and they need to set themselves up to take advantage of that better than they did on Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: ESPN pinpoints one thing the Falcons need to do better
