14 Thoughts On The Bears’ Ugly Implosion Against The Falcons

Dhruv Koul shares his in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the Bears-Falcons game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Follow him on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.

ATLANTA — The Chicago Bears have had a rough go of it the last few weeks. After dominating the New England Patriots coming out of their mini-bye, they’ve lost three straight games where their offense has scored 29+ points — two of them home games — including an inexcusable 31-30 loss to the Detroit Lions last Sunday.

The defense has been atrocious during this stretch, and while the Bears’ goals this year are all about next year, losing a 14-point 4th quarter lead to the Lions at home is never good for anyone. Alas, the Bears entered today’s game at 3-7.

Justin Fields has played some very good football during this stretch, though. While the passing game is still not good enough, he has announced himself as one of the more dynamic playmakers the NFL has seen in a while. He’s doing most of his damage on the ground, and while Fields has a ways to go as a passer, he has shown signs that he’s starting to figure it out. There is a path to true, multi-faceted greatness that simply wasn’t evident whatsoever about a month ago.

The Bears — and their fans — have to be excited about that.

Today’s game against the Atlanta Bears — er, Falcons — was a curious one. The Falcons employ a LOT of former Bears, and were constructed with the help of former GM Ryan Pace, who has assuredly watched Fields with some FOMO since the Bears fired him in January. Both teams are building something interesting, though they both have a lot more work to do.

In the end, the Bears imploded from a 17-7 lead to lose an ugly, ugly game in Atlanta. That should’ve been another win. Instead, they fall to 3-8 with the NFC’s worst record.

I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.

Thoughts and Observations

1. Bears’ defense struggles majorly to start the game. The only third down Atlanta faced was a 3rd and 1 that Justin Jones jumped offside on. After that, a lack of discipline allowed Marcus Mariota and the Falcons’ running game to tear them apart for an opening touchdown. Lack of discipline by Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon is alarming, but a dual-threat like Mariota will do that.

The ever-reliable Bears’ offense, though, answered right back after a very nice Velus Jones Jr. kickoff return. Justin Fields found Darnell Mooney streaking open on the left sideline and they connected for a touchdown on 3rd and 8. This after some nice running by David Montgomery set up the drive. It’s 7-7 after a drive each.

2. Nicholas Morrow dropped an INT on the Falcons’ second drive, though he made a great read to get in front of that throw in the first place. He’s certainly worth a depth contract next season. Meanwhile, Fields missed a wide open (overthrown) Darnell Mooney on 3rd and 6 on the ensuing drive that would’ve been an easy touchdown. Just can’t have that if he wants to be an elite QB. Luckily, DeAndre Houston-Carson forced a fumble on the punt return and the Bears got it back in plus territory. Nice to have a fumble on special teams go the Bears’ way.

Granted… a bad backwards pass, a false start and a free-rush sack later…

3. Cordarrelle Patterson giveth, Cordarrelle Patterson taketh away.

After a fumble following a long run (forced by Jaquan Brisker, recovered by Jaylon Johnson) allowed Justin Fields to scamper in for a touchdown, Patterson took the ensuing kickoff 105 yards to the house. He is still so unbelievably electric. The Bears hope Velus Jones Jr. becomes that for them some day. Until then, Patterson is just awesome to watch.

4. Justin Fields getting his passes batted (by defender or helmet) is an issue. It’s happened a lot this year. He’s gotta get better with understanding how to use his arm angles. He got picked off against Washington in the red zone, and was almost picked earlier today if not for a heroic breakup by Sam Mustipher. And then the hit off Michael Schofield’s helmet kept the FG attempt before halftime at 56 yards, which Santos missed.

5. First half ends tied at 17 after Younghoe Koo drilled a 40 yarder at the gun, but given some of the circumstances of that half, the Bears did poorly to only be tied.

7. The Bears’ OL has really struggled today. Michael Schofield starting in place of Teven Jenkins who, while active, didn’t get much practice time this week. He has been dismal today. In general, Atlanta is sending some sort of creative pressure on almost every dropback and it’s working. Fields doesn’t have much time today… and when he does, he hasn’t done much down the field. They need to shore things up quickly.

8. Bad, bad defense from Chicago and the Falcons go up 24-17 on Marcus Mariota’s TD run near the end of the third quarter. An offsides penalty on 3rd and 8, followed by a questionable roughing call on Kyler Gordon, gave the Falcons new life. The Bears haven’t been very HITSy today — just like they haven’t been the last few weeks.

9. Through three quarters, the Bears’ inability to attack the worst pass defense in the NFL is concerning. The OL hasn’t held up well, but there hasn’t been a ton of separation since early in the game — when Fields missed a wide open Mooney for what would’ve been a touchdown to put them up 14-7.

The offense has lulled in the second half, and it’s just odd that it’s Atlanta that’s seemingly figured out how to play them. Good game plan from DC Dean Pees.

10. As I say that, Fields and Montgomery basically put the Bears’ offense on their backs and marched down the field for a game-tying touchdown. It involved a couple of heroic conversions by Fields — including an absolutely dime down the right sideline TO Montgomery and a “run around and find someone” conversion to Equanimeous St. Brown. A not-so-great sequence near the goal line was bailed out by an ATL defensive hold, before Monty punched in a touchdown. For Fields, it was maturation within the game — him pulling off a couple of huge, clutch throws to bring the Bears back from the mat.

11. Heck of a drive by Atlanta to burn much of the clock and gain some TOUGH yardage on the ground. The FG attempt was good to put them up 27-24 with 1:47 left and the Bears having three timeouts. Jack Sanborn had a chance to kill the drive with a five-yard tackle, but he missed and it allowed Atlanta to go for it on 4th and 2 (convert). Still, Sanborn’s got great instincts and hustle. A fun player for next year.

Re: the Bears’ offense…

12. And nope. Two bad designed runs — one where Fields got hurt — and a brutally thrown interception kill the drive. Also, the second run was a slide that should’ve gotten a flag on a late hit. I have no idea what any of that was. Tough game for Luke Getsy and others.

13. Just another ugly loss in a season full of them. And with that, the Bears have the worst record in the conference. They had to expect that they’d be better than this this season.

14. The Bears are back on the road next week as they head to East Rutherford for the second time this season — this time to take on the New York Jets. The Jets’ pass rush can’t be stopped, while the Bears’ OL can’t block anyone, it seems. The Justin Fields-Zach Wilson showdown that’s supposed to be intriguing? It’ll be a snooze fest.

Early prediction: Jets 23, Bears 16.