Morning Box Score: Bears Beat Themselves In Atlanta
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Oct 19, 2009 3:00PM
While the scoreboard showed that the Atlanta Falcons beat the Bears 21-14 on Sunday night, the reality is that the Bears beat themselves. Turnovers in the red zone and inopportune penalties killed numerous chances to score and left the Bears to hang their heads in defeat. "We had a lot of opportunities to win the game," coach Lovie Smith said. "You can't make those kinds of mistakes on the road against a good football team."
On the Bears' first possession of the game, a Jay Cutler pass intended for Greg Olsen was picked off inside the Falcons' ten yard line, killing a drive inside the red zone. Still, the Bears managed to bounce back and take a 7-0 lead in the second quarter when Jay Cutler connected with Johnny Knox on a 23 yard TD pass to cap a quick two-play drive set up by a 33 yard Devin Hester punt return. The Falcons, however, later capitalized on another Jay Cutler interception to score the tying TD and later drove down the field to score just seconds before halftime to take a 14-7 lead into the locker room.
Midway through the third, the Bears had their first opportunity to tie the game when they had a first down at Atlanta's one yard line. Matt Forte fumbled on consecutive carries and while they recovered the first, the Bears lost the second and turned the ball over to Atlanta without putting any points on the board. Late in the fourth, the Bears tied the game at 14-14 on a Cutler TD pass to Olsen. But a 62 yard return on the ensuing kickoff quickly returned the momentum to Atlanta as they countered with seven points of their own, taking a 21-14 lead with just a little over three minutes left. Three minutes, of course, is plenty of time for Jay Cutler to work his magic and engineer a comeback drive, and he almost pulled it off. The Bears got as close as the Falcons' five yard line, poised for what could have been a game-tying score, but penalties on their final drive -- false-start penalties by Orlando Pace and Frank Omiyale and an offensive pass interference call against Earl Bennett -- doomed them. Cutler's pass to Desmond Clark in the endzone on fourth and one fell incomplete, sealing the Bears' fate.
With the loss, the Bears drop to 3-2 on the season, tied with the Green Bay Packers but behind the 6-0 Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North. Next week, the Bears head to Cincinnati to face the Bengals and their powerhouse running back Cedric Benson -- yes, that Cedric Benson.