Breaking down what to expect Sunday when the Bears visit the Falcons:
Even after their clunker last week at Lambeau Field, the Bears’ rushing offense remains the best in the NFL. Their average of 173.2 yards is about 6 ½ yards more than the NFL’s second-ranked running team — Sunday’s opponent, the Falcons.
Bears coach Ben Johnson struggled to establish any offensive rhythm against the Packers. While it’s easy to blame the jumpy Tyson Bagent for their pass-game struggles, Johnson’s run scheme wasn’t much better. With Kyle Monangai out, he couldn’t find production from anyone other than starter D’Andre Swift, who ran nine times for a modest 43 yards.
The rest of the Bears ran 15 times for 38 yards. Roschon Johnson, who served as Swift’s backup, ran five times for six yards. Receiver Luther Burden had a seven-yard run — and three that lost a total of five yards.
The Bears’ 81 rushing yards were the third-fewest of the Johnson era. A week earlier, against the Jets, they'd run for the second-most.
Johnson needs to find a way to unlock the team’s run game with Swift on and off the field. The Falcons won’t provide much help — they’ve given up 80.2 rushing yards per game, the fourth-fewest in the NFL. Defensive tackles LaCale London and Gervon Dexter, who are both former Bears, rank in the top 16 of Pro Football Focus’ run defense grades at their position.
Sunday will be a test for Johnson, but also the Bears’ ballyhooed offensive line, which struggled against the Packers after spending all week trying to recover from playing 89 snaps against the Jets.
One of the most alarming aspects of Montez Sweat’s suspension — and there were many — was how important his position is to trying to slow down all-world running back Bijan Robinson.
The Falcons run an outside zone rushing scheme in which they want to get defensive linemen to “run sideways,” defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett said, so Robinson can hunt for holes. The best want to slow the scheme is to push blockers back to create traffic before Robinson can get outside. The Bears figure to struggle to do that without Sweat, who will be out for two games, and Dayo Odeyingbo, who will sit out Sunday's game with an injured quad. The Bears will lean on reinforcements: Shemar Turner, the former second-round pick who returned this week from an ACL injury, and Jayden Loving and Jamree Kromah, who have never played in a regular-season game.
The Falcons’ offense is about more than an MVP-caliber running back, though. Receiver Drake London is fourth in the NFL with 488 receiving yards. He’s not a speedster but plays with tremendous physicality at the top of his routes.
Tight end Kyle Pitts has only 10 catches for 109 receiving yards this season but is a year removed from catching 88 balls for 928 yards.
Robinson leads the NFL with 580 rushing yards. His short-yardage backup, Brian Robinson, is ranked 31st in the NFL with 210. The two have four rushing touchdowns apiece.
