The Falcons have been really frustrating today. They began the second quarter by sacking Jay Cutler, John Abraham's second of the day. The Falcons offense then promptly went three-and-out, and poor pass protection on third-down almost resulted in a safety. Matt Bosher was forced to punt out of the Falcons' own endzone, and a 25-yard return by Devin Hester started the Bears off at the Atlanta 25. Really, I'd love to see some consistent play sometime today.
The Bears got down to the 10-yard line poised to score, but Kroy Biermann had other plans. He notched his first sack of the season, and the Falcons' third of the game. On the following play, good coverage by Brent Grimes again resulted in a tipped pass, and again it floated over the hands of Thomas DeCoud. Tough luck is all I can say.
Fortunately, the Falcons D held up in the red zone and limited the Bears to only a field goal. That, however, also extended the Bears lead to ten points in this second quarter.
So, the offense took the field and again started their drive off well. However, the bane of this team all day has been the inability to finish their drives. A tipped pass to Julio Jones that resulted in a six-yard loss along with good coverage on Roddy White on third-and-long extended the Falcons' scoring drought.
The defense followed suit. Two good run stops by Curtis Lofton and John Abraham brought the Bears to third-and-nine, but coverage again broke down as Cutler hooked up with Johnny Knox for 18 yards. It was more of the same from then on. The Falcons would make two great stops in the running game, then give up a passing play on third-down.
The Birds forced another third-down, and by the grace of the football gods Jay Cutler overthrew a wide open Kellen Davis. They probably should have scored, but the D again limited the Bears to only a field goal.
The offense took the field with under a minute remaining desperately needing to respond with a score, but simply didn't have enough time or protection to really get anything going. If the Falcons want to come back in this one, Matt Ryan absolutely needs better pass protection. There's simply no way Atlanta can win if Ryan can't even get off a pass.
Still, this lead is surmountable, and it's far from time to call it quits just yet. Bears lead 16-3 at the half.