Chicago Bears games in Atlanta always seem to come down to the wire, and that remained true on Sunday. The Bears entered their Week 6 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons with the offense trending up thanks to the return of quarterback Caleb Williams and the defense trending down with multiple key injuries at every position. Both sides of the ball stood out early, however.
Williams didn't miss a beat, completing his first 12 passes and delivering a touchdown strike to tight end Colston Loveland. Meanwhile, the defense bottled up the Falcons offense and made life miserable for quarterback Michael Penix and Bijan Robinson, who were aided by the return of cornerback Kyler Gordon.
Everything was coming up Bears through three quarters as Chicago led
31-7, but Atlanta would not go down quietly. Thanks to some questionable coaching decisions and untimely turnovers, the Falcons scored 16 unanswered points to storm back and make it a one-possession game late. Fortunately, the Bears held on for dear life at the end to stop the bleeding and come away with the 31-23 victory, improving to 4-2 on the season.
At times, it was a dominant game by Chicago. It was also a frustrating experience with poor penalties and uneven play. Here are our takeaways from Sunday's nerve-wracking win.
1. Caleb Williams excelled from the pocket
The Bears offense looks just fine with Williams operating it. The third-year signal caller made his highly anticipated return to the field Sunday after missing three weeks with a hamstring injury, and immediately he provided a jolt to the entire offense. Williams finished the day completing 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and one touchdown. He led the Bears to four scoring drives in total with precise strikes to his receivers to gain chunk yardage.
Perhaps the most interesting observation with Williams' game was that he did most of his damage from the pocket. Williams didn't utilize his mobility nearly as much as usual due to the hamstring injury, and he took a few bad sacks that he normally would break away from. Still, Williams completed 83% of his passes, the highest total ever for a Bears quarterback with at least 30 attempts. And according to Next Gen Stats, Williams was 24/24 from a clean pocket for 248 yards. The 24 attempts are the most without an incompletion since 2018.
You want to see Williams at full strength because his mobility is such a unique weapon for defenses to worry about, but this was a game that should make people feel great about his ability to win from the pocket. And most of the incompletions were throwaways. He will eventually get back to 100% and start running more, but this is a great sign for Williams going forward.
2. Kyler Gordon is the defense's "X Factor"
Boy, is Dennis Allen glad to have Kyler Gordon back in the fold. Sunday marked Gordon's first game of the season after he was activated off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, and the Bears clearly had a plan for him on defense. Gordon didn't enter the game until after a few series but made his impact immediately by stuffing a third-down run.
From there, Gordon was used almost exclusively as an extra defensive lineman coming off the edge as a free blitzer. Gordon produced three sacks (two of which resulted in fumbles) along with three tackles for loss and two QB hits to stall the Falcons offense. The three sacks were the most by a defensive back during a single game in NFL history.
When Gordon can be deployed like a Swiss Army Knife, good things happen for the defense, and Allen knows it. He's the unit's "X Factor" with what he can do along the line of scrimmage and in pass coverage. I imagine his package of plays will only continue to grow as long as he stays healthy. Gordon has never played in three consecutive games for Allen, so the trust needs to still be built. But this was an unbelievable return, and good things should be in store for the rest of the season.
3. Penalties reared their ugly head once again
Imagine what this game would have looked like if the Bears didn't commit a laundry list of penalties. For much of the game, the Bears' biggest opponent was themselves. They repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with penalties that negated big plays and gave the Falcons life. The Bears committed 12 penalties for 133 yards on Sunday. It's the second time they've had 12 penalties this year, and the 133 yards is the most they've had in nearly 10 years.
While some of the calls were questionable and this officiating crew is notorious for blowing their whistle, committing double-digit penalties is no accident. Self-inflicted wounds helped keep the Falcons in this game, and we're too deep into the season for this team to be going backwards in that regard.
4. Bears had their best special teams performance in a long time
A big reason the Bears got the win was thanks to their special teams unit. Richard Hightower's group was excellent in nearly every way, sans a missed Cairo Santos field goal and a boneheaded play from Jahdae Walker (more on that later).
Kalif Raymond gave the Bears excellent field position with solid punt returns, while Tory Taylor's banana ball led to a muffed punt and a recovery by Josh Blackwell. And their coverage teams laid the hammer, including a punchout by Zavier Scott to give the Bears the ball back on a kickoff return. Those turnovers led to 10 points, which were very needed when it was all said and done. Even with a couple miscues, this was one of the Bears' best special teams performances in a long time.
5. Jahdae Walker might be on his way out
There aren't many players on the Bears who bring the fire and energy like Jahdae Walker, which can be a boost at times. Lately, however, he's been putting the team in bad spots. Walker first committed a roughing the kicker penalty that gave the Falcons a new set of downs, but his biggest transgression came later on when he shoved Falcons receiver Chris Blair. That decision got him tossed, and while it seemed like an overreaction to eject Walker, he has got to be better than to put his team in a bad spot.
Walker is a good special teams player and brings some juice at the receiver position. But for someone like him, the juice won't be worth the squeeze if he continues making these types of mistakes. It's possible Walker is on thin ice, and any future mistakes could get him cut from the team.
6. The run defense was the unsung hero
Going into this game without Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, and T.J. Edwards, it seemed as if the Falcons would be able to run up and down the defense with Bijan Robinson leading the way. And when it was all said and done, Atlanta totaled just 63 rushing yards on 12 carries.
The Bears seemed ready for everything the Falcons had when it came to running the ball. Bijan Robinson had a 23-yard gain but did next to nothing after that. And Brian Robinson, who had done a nice job as the backup in recent weeks, totaled one measly yard. Allen had the perfect plan in place to neutralize Bijan and make Penix throw the ball to win.
This is the third week in a row the Bears have allowed 70 or fewer rushing yards, the first time that has happened since 2023. It may not get discussed quite like some of the individual performances, but the plays made by the collective defense in the run game kept this one out of reach for Atlanta for the majority of the day.
7. Bears got too complacent at the end
Perhaps the most questionable coaching decision of the game happened early in the fourth quarter when Ben Johnson took his foot off the gas by subbing out the starting defense. The Bears were up 31-7 with roughly 12 minutes to go in the game, and the Falcons took advantage of the backups. Up to that point, Atlanta had totaled just 105 yards of offense. They proceeded to add 152 yards over the next three possessions to go with 16 points, trimming the lead to just eight points.
While the starting defense returned after just one drive, there was already blood in the water. Getting too complacent almost cost the Bears that game. I understand the reasoning since they have a short turnaround with a Thursday Night Football matchup against the New England Patriots on deck and multiple starters already hurt. That wasn't the right time to make that move, though. The Bears are good, but not good enough to take their foot off the gas.
Follow Bears Wire on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: 7 takeaways from Bears' win over the Falcons
