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The Atlanta Falcons nearly overcame a 24-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, but they fell short in the red zone with a chance to tie the game late. The Falcons offense got off to a slow start, while the Bears could do no wrong early in the game.
Even though the Falcons showed impressive effort to even have a chance, the game came down to turnovers. Atlanta fumbled three times - two muffed punts and once on a fourth-quarter pass attempt. Michael Penix Jr. passed for 225 yards and three touchdowns for a passer rating of 108.8.
Unfortunately, it was all too little, too late on Sunday. Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski. felt like the team beat themselves on Sunday.
"That's a disappointing one, and obviously proud of how we continued to fight but, to start like we started is really, really disappointing. I just felt like we beat ourselves. They beat us - the Bears beat us - we also beat us. And that's really frustrating.
Stefanski also pointed to the turnovers as a reason for Sunday's loss.
"You turn the ball over three times against a good team, it's going to be hard to win."
Falcons rookie Zachariah Branch fumbled twice on punt returns, but he did bounce back with a few clutch catches, including a two-point conversion late in the game.
"We're counting on him," Stefanski said of Branch. "He'll be better for this."
Here's Stefanski and Penix's full post-game press conferences, as shared by the team's YouTube channel below.