The Bears are coming off one of their most disappointing losses of the season, as they squandered a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, regained the lead with just over nine minutes left to play, then blew that lead too, against the Lions. They’ll have a great opportunity to flush those bad feelings this week, as the Bears travel to Atlanta to take the Falcons, another lowly team. The Falcons were projected to be one of the worst squads in the NFL this season, as they moved on from Matt Ryan to rebuild their franchise, and for the most part they’ve played to their expectations. But there have been some highlights for Atlanta, including surprising wins over the Browns, 49ers and Seahawks. A Falcons win over the Bears wouldn’t be surprising per se, since the Falcons sit at 4-6, compared to the Bears’ 3-7 record, so the Bears will have to execute on these three keys to give themselves a good chance to end their three-game skid.
PLAY CLEAN
Arguably the biggest reason why the Bears lost last week is that they made more mistakes than the Lions did. Justin Fields was phenomenal throughout the game, but one bad decision led to a pick-6. A complete operational failure on a point-after try took a point off the board in a one-point loss. Nine penalties (some certainly not justified, but many warranted) resulted in a 86-yard swing in the Lions’ favor. The Bears are young and exciting to watch, but they’re just not good enough to overcome their own mistakes yet. Limit the unforced errors and they’ll give themselves a much better chance of winning.
CONTAIN ‘ALIEN’ CORDARRELLE PATTERSON
Four teams over eight years tried to take Cordarrelle Patterson’s incredible athleticism and special teams prowess and turn him into an offensive weapon, including the Bears in 2019 and 2020. None could do it. Last season, the Falcons figured it out. They did away with gadget plays, made him less of a wide receiver and more of a running back, and now, at 31 years old, he’s one of the most reliable rushers in the game. Patterson’s 5.3 YPC average ranks eighth among all running backs with at least 75 attempts. He’s tied for 14th in the league with five rushing touchdowns, despite missing four games on injured reserve. “He’s, respectfully, an alien,” said Bears defensive coordinator about what Patterson brings to the table. “he’s a planet guy — there aren’t many guys on the planet that are that big, that fast that can do all that he does so respectfully, he’s just a good football player that does it all.” Patterson is a big reason why the Falcons have the league’s second-best rushing attack. The Bears field a bottom-five rush defense, so they’ll need to find a way to limit Patterson’s impact.
DON’T LET MARCUS MARIOTA WIN WITH HIS LEGS
Simply put, the Bears have struggled to defend quarterbacks who can get outside the pocket and run. The Giants essentially used the same concepts with Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor to beat the defense repeatedly in Week 4. Whenever Dak Prescott kept the ball in Week 8 it was a similar story. Mariota may not be the most accurate passer in the league to carve up the Bears secondary, but he can challenge the defense in the same way Jones, Taylor and Prescott did. The key for the Bears is eye discipline. It’s something they’ve talked about all year, and it’s something that hasn’t improved enough to mitigate the weakness. If the Falcons go to that same well, and it works, they’ll have no reason to try to win through the air, and the Bears defense could struggle getting off the field.
NFL
FINAL SCORE PREDICTION
The Bears offense is humming, and players are eager to rectify last week’s mistakes. Even a slight improvement should be enough.
Bears: 31, Falcons: 27