Bears Can't Overcome Missed Opportunities And Fall 21-14 to Atlanta

NFL News - October 19th, 2009 - Written by Scott

The end result of Sunday night's game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Chicago Bears would wind up being who took advantage of opportunities inside the red zone. The Falcons were a perfect 2-2 and went on to defeat the Bears 21-14. Chicago had their opportunities inside the red zone. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler threw an interception at the Atlanta 9 yard line and running back Matt Forte, who was held to just 23 yards on the night, fumbled on the Atlanta 1 two times in a row (losing the second one). They had one more opportunity with less than a minute remaining when the Bears had the ball at the Falcon's five yard line. Orlando Pace moved before the snap on fourth-and1 and the Bears could not convert.

"We had a lot of opportunities to win this football game," Chicago coach Lovie Smith said. "You can't make those kind of mistakes. When you get the ball in the red zone, you need to get points."

Johnny Knox got Chicago on the board first at the start of the second quarter on a 23 yard touchdown pass from Cutler. Atlanta would respond with a 40 yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Roddy White to even the score at 7. Ryan would then find Tony Gonzalez from 10 yards out with four seconds left in the half to put the Falcons ahead 14-7 heading into half time. After a scoreless third quarter, Cutler connected with Greg Olsen on a 2 yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14 with 6:14 remaining. Michael Turner would then score the game winning touchdown on a 5 yard touchdown run that gave the Falcons (4-1) their best start since 2004.

The difference in the game, despite missed opportunities by the Bears, was the tough defense played by the Falcons. They did give up 373 yards to Chicago on the night, but held strong when they needed to.

"Our defense, give them some credit," said Ryan. "Our guys stepped up and made some plays when we needed them to."

Cutler had a season high 300 yards passing in the game and also threw 2 touchdown passe,. but he did have 2 costly interceptions that added to Chicago's woes on Sunday night. The Bears (3-2) got into the red zone four times, but only manged to score once. Their defense held the Falcons to just 253 total yards and just 68 on the ground, but the Bears missed opportunities were the difference in the game.

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