Bears report card: How we graded Chicago in Week 6 win vs. Falcons

Offense: A

The Bears offense scored 31 points. Caleb Williams retur4ned from an injury and dominated as well as he ever has in the NFL. He completed 30-of-36 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown. Colston Loveland caught the lone touchdown pass, and it was his best overall game because of his six total catches on seven targets. Luther Burden caught all eight of his receptions for a total of 95 yards. Outside of those two, the ball was equally spread around. If Williams thinks you can help advance the ball, he’ll throw it to you. In the run game, without Kyle Monangai, the Bears did just enough with D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson. Between them, they had three rushing touchdowns, which played key roles in the win.

Defense: B

Chicago’s defense was outstanding in this game. However, after giving up just one measly touchdown in the first three quarters, they started to unravel a bit in the fourth after their starters were pulled up 31-7. The positive side of the B comes from how well they played, but it’s not an A because of the door cracking open for Atlanta in the final frame. Kyler Gordon made his return from injury, which made this his season debut. It seemed like there was some off-the-field drama with his absence, but like most of these types of stories, they’re overblown. He looked ready to go in a big way once he stepped on the field. In addition to making four tackles, Gordon had three sacks and two forced fumbles. He could play this well again in every game and still not have stats like that. It’s looking like a big boost to their group going forward. Chicago’s defense needed a spark in the defensive backfield and with their pass rush. They didn’t expect Kyler Gordon to give them help in both areas, but that was the case in Atlanta.

Special Teams: A

The Bears special teams units were incredible in this game. Cairo Santos missed a 56-yard field goal, but they probably shouldn’t have put him in that position anyway. He was nails on every other attempt. They had plenty of good field position thanks to returns by Zavion Thomas and Kalif Raymond, but their punting unit also made some noise. Between causing two turnovers and pinning the Falcons deep, they did a great job. This is one of the rare special teams A-grades for doing more than just “not messing things up”. The offense and the defense had things easier on Sunday thanks to special teams.

Coaching: B

The Bears coaching staff came very close to getting an A. The offense was humming with Caleb Williams back, which is largely due to Ben Johnson’s incredible management of that unit, and Dennis Allen’s defensive team kept the high-flying Falcons offense to seven points through three quarters. Bijan Robinson had one of his worst games of his season, which can be attributed to the coaching staff’s plan for defending him and all of the high-powered weapons that they present in Atlanta. The one stain on all of this that brings it down to a B is the team’s decision to bench most of the defensive starters in the fourth quarter. This is the NFL; no game is over until it’s over. Atlanta made it interesting in the end, and sitting the starters on defense played a big role in that. It would have been a disaster if they had lost the game after being up by three scores in the fourth quarter. That didn’t happen for them, however, so all is good. Going forward, you’d think that the coaching staff would be a little more careful. Other than that, no harm, no foul.