Atlanta Falcons: Top 20 games in franchise history

6) Falcons 22, Bears 20: October 12, 2008

We won? Are you kidding me?

Want to know where Matt Ryan got the nickname Matty Ice from? Well, here it is. Ryan was making his sixth career NFL start when the Chicago Bears came to town and the Falcons record sat at 3-2. The game was rather quite throughout the first three quarters and change, but what happened in the last eight minutes of regulation just might be the craziest eight minutes in franchise history.

The Falcons took a 19-10 lead with 13:25 let in the fourth quarter after Ryan connected with Roddy White from three yards out but the game was far from over.  On the Bears’ ensuing possession, Kyle Orton marched the team 49 yards in 11 plays but was stood up at the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

After a quick punt by the Falcons’ offense, the  Bears kicked a field goal with 4:05 left in the game to cut the lead to just six points. However, return specialist Jerious Norwood had other ideas. Norwood took the kickoff 85 yards down to the Chicago 17-yard line, but Jason Elam missed a short field goal that would have put the game away.

So what do the Bears do? They march 77 yards in 2:32 seconds and score what many believed to be the game-winning touchdown with 17 seconds left in the game.

After a good return, in stepped Ryan with 11 seconds to work with from his own 44-yard line. Ryan dropped back and threw a dart to wide receiver Michael Jenkins who stepped out-of-bounds with 1 second remaining. In stepped Elam who made up for his earlier miss and hammered home the game-winning 48-yard field goal to give the Falcons the unbelievable come from behind win.

Next: No. 5