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Falcons drop to 2-4 with home loss at home to the 3-3
Chicago Bears 27-13

By Don Stone - Football Atlanta

   This game featured two teams trying to get their seasons going in the right direction. One would wind up 2-4 with bleak hopes of anything good to come. The other would be 3-3, not a lot better, your chances are much better than the former.
   The Falcons clearly are a team that thrives on home cooking with all three losses on the road and both wins at home. In fact, it was the 2012 season the last time Atlanta won away from the Georgia Dome. For that reason, this one was especially important was a schedule that has four straight road games to follow.
   Chicago is also 2-3, but their wins have both come on the road.
  Both teams came in with two game losing streaks. Last week, the Bears had a three point lead going into the fourth quarter only to see Carolina score 10 unanswered points to end the game with a win 31-24. Atlanta, similarly, had a 20-10 lead at New York only to watch the Giants rattle off the last 20 points to win 30-20.
  So, the last quarter would be interesting to watch to see which team maintains that non scoring trend. Unfortunately, it would be Atlanta.
  The Bears began the game with a 20 yard pass to
Brandon Marshall at the 35. But that's all they would get.
  Atlanta's first drive went a little better as
Steven Jackson barreled forward for 14 followed by an 18 yard catch up the middle by TE Levine Toilolo all the way to the Bears 34. But the drive stalled there with Matt Bryant putting Atlanta on the board first with a 52 yard field goal.
   The Bears next drive included a
Jay Cutler sack by Jonathan Massaquoi and a punt that pinned the Falcons at their 10 yard line. But, Atlanta went the first of several three and outs giving Chicago great field position at their 39 yard line. An illegal formation call nullified a first down pass to Matt Forte, but the RB made it up on the next play with a catch that he took 16 to the Atlanta 46. TE Martellus Bennett got it 14 yards closer to the 32. A questionable late hit call on Paul Worrilow gave the Bears new life at the 14 as the first quarter came to an end. The defense held the damage to a game tying 25 yard Robbie Gould field goal. Falcons 3, Bears 3.
 
Matt Ryan started making progress when he found Roddy White for 10 yards at the 38 for a first down, then hit former Bear Devin Hester for 23 more to the Chicago 40. But when he was sacked for 8 yards by DT Stephen Paea, his drive stopped in its tracks.
  Cutler got to midfield quickly with an 18 yard connection to Forte then more on the ground. But a holding call and a false start slowed things down. Not for long, though, as Marshall brought down a 47 yard bomb to bring up a first and goal at the three. WR
Josh Morgan got the rest to put the visitors up with their first lead 10-3. The go ahead drive took 7 plays and 79 yards.
 
Julio Jones took a short pass and moved it 15 yards downfield to the 37 to start Atlanta's drive. But a pair of incompletions to White forced a punt as the Falcons offense continued to sputter with 4:08 left in the half.
  Chicago had been overcoming sacks and penalties all game with big plays. They did it on this drive as well when Cutler was sacked for a third time by
Robert McClain, But, he quickly got another first down at the Falcons 36 on a 15 yard pass to Marshall with 39 seconds to go. Nine more in the air got them within field goal range at the 27 to make it a 10 point lead at the half 13-3.
  The Falcons defense had done a credible job posting three sacks and holding the Bears to a touchdown and two field goals. But, they were giving up big chunks of yardage to extend drives that should have been over.
  The problem was mainly on the offense, which had done little or nothing with just five first downs, going one of five on third downs with just 98 yards of total offense. Another problem was dropped balls, several by White and Toilolo.
  The question, I'm sure, was being asked among the fans. "Where is
Antone Smith?" With an offense unable to get anything going, why was one of their most explosive players sitting on the bench for all but one play? The RB had six career touchdowns of at least 38 yards scoring four times this season with two runs and two receptions averaging 53.5 yards per TD. Coming in, Smith and Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch were the only players to post multiple rushing and receiving TDs this season. They wouldn't have to wonder for long.
  The good news was that Atlanta was just down by three and had the ball first to start the second half. From their 17 yard line, Ryan hit Jones for just his third catch of the game to give them 17 yards and some breathing room at the 26. Julio got 29 more on the next play to the Chicago 45. He then took a handoff for 10 more and another first down. But the play came back on a holding call. Another penalty moved them back to their 36 for a first and 29.
  Ryan got 14 back with a completion to Toilolo at midfield. Smith finally got in the game and got a nine yard catch to bring up a third and six. Then they made the wondering crowd happy and hit Smith again. The exciting back did what he does best and took it the rest of the distance 41 yards for the Falcons first TD of the game to pull them to within three, 13-10.
  "Obviously, when he gets the ball in his hands he certainly makes a lot of plays," said Ryan. "He’s taking full advantage of that. I’m sure as we move forward; we are always trying to find ways to get the ball in space with the guys we feel can make the plays."
   It would be one of the few highlights of the game for Atlanta.
 
Samuel L. Jackson exhorted the Falcons to "Rise Up" on the big screen and the defense did its part forcing a punt from the 22. The offense would take its turn at their 31. Smith got them a first down at the 42. Ryan scrambled and found Eric Weems downfield at the Chicago 43. Jacquizz Rodgers added seven to the 36. Bryant tied it up with a 54 yarder, 13-13.
  As with last week, it would be all Bears from there with 14 unanswered points starting with a killer three play eighty yard drive highlighted by a 75 yard pass to Jeffery putting them with a first and goal at the six. One play later, the crowd exploded as the numerous visiting Bears fans saw their team make it into the end zone. A second later, the hometown crowd roared on their own with a missed extra point. Chicago was back in the lead 19-13.
  “That was probably the turning point in the game," said head coach
Mike Smith. "Absolutely the turning point in the game. You can’t fight back from a 10 point deficit coming out at halftime, starting fast and end up giving up the big touchdown that quickly in the second half. We’ve got be better across the board as a football team.”
  The Falcons got their chance to go back ahead with a score but had another three and out. A 47 yard punt combined with a holding call moved the Bears back to their 13 yard line to start their drive.
  Marshall got them out of the hole with a 13 yard catch at the 26. Forte got them another first with a catch and carry plays to he 37. On a third and eleven, Cutler ended the third quarter with a 25 yard pass to Bennett into Falcons territory at the 39. The drive continued with another completion to Jeffery for 10 to the 23 then another first down to bring up a first and goal at the 10. He pulled down a touchdown but saw it called back on an illegal touching penalty, moving it back to the 13. Again, they were able to overcome a setback as Forte got them the TD anyway with a back breaking nine yard carry into the end zone. A two point conversion made up for the missed extra point earlier to put the Bears up by two scores 27-13 with 10:07 remaining.
  The only time the Falcons offense had done anything was with Smith in the lineup and the next drive began with him again on the sidelines with Jackson in at back. The result was nothing new, another three and out with a
Jared Allen sack thrown in to make it worse.
  From there, Chicago only needed to let the clock run out. Atlanta eventually got the ball back at 5:19. But, was not seeing any comebacks as the offense could only get another three downs and nothing except another Ryan sack. Atlanta was forced to go for it on a fourth and 14 from their 39. 3:37 remained on the clock but the game ended for all intents and purposes as the CB
Demontre Hurst intercepted the embattled QB at their 45. The Falcons suffered their first home loss of the season and third loss in a row dropping to 2-4 with a lot of questions to be asked and probably not a lot of answers to give.
  "Third and longs, giving them up on the defensive side, having some critical drops on the offensive side, and we weren’t able to score any points in the fourth quarter of the football game" said coach Smith. "When you don’t score in the fourth quarter it’s tough to win, especially the way this game went.”
 
As we mentioned before, the last quarter has been a continuing problem. And, now, the Falcons had not scored a single point in the fourth quarter in their last four games and only seventeen in all six games.
  And, as we mentioned before, Atlanta has not been a good road team. The hopes being bleak play into that as they take a 2-6 record on the road again with no home games until the weekend before Thanksgiving. The schedule takes them to Baltimore, Detroit, then to London with a winnable game against the Bucs, whom they throttled earlier 56-14. Then another away game at Carolina.
  But, when they do return to the Georgia Dome, it won't get any easier with games against the Cardinals, Packers, Steelers and Panthers. Is another 4-12 season looming? 

 
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