Bears Crush Falcons, 30 – 12

To say the Falcons started the season flat would be a massive understatement! In all three phases the Falcons lacked energy and made continuous mental errors throughout the game.

On offense, the run game never really got going aside from a big 53 yard run by Turner, however that was negated by a fumble from Michael Turner, which started the mistake filled afternoon. Matt Ryan looked good early in the no huddle but struggled to find anything deep against the conservative bears scheme. Julio Jones and Roddy White both looked decent at times, with Julio getting himself on the receiving end of a big pass play in the second half. As the game progressed however, the offense looked flat, Ryan kept checking down to the running backs when big throws past the first down marker were needed.

Aside from DE John Abraham and DE Kroy Beirmann, the defense looked lacklustre, a result of too much soft coverage and poor tackling made it relatively easy for the Bears offense to move the ball. A 4th quarter pick six by Kroy restricted the onslaught somewhat but it was still an awful performance and the Falcons staff will have to have a long look at themselves.

Right, lets try and put a positive spin on this….

• DE’s Abraham and Biermann looked good. Biermann outplayed free agent acquisition Ray Edwards
• K Bryant looked dead on as usual, should be very valuable down the road.
• Atlanta recorded 4 plays (which i counted) of 20 yards or more in this game, while that is not great it is still an improvement over last year.
• It’s the first game of the season! we lost the first game last season and still went onto a 13 – 3 record
• Losses like these can sometimes be what a team needs to ignite a season.

All we can hope for is a a better performance next week, with Vick coming to town we will need it!