Bears Falcons Week 6 comes with two big questions, and both of them sit on the Chicago side. Will Caleb Williams play, and who is going to bring down Bijan Robinson? The Bears (3-2) travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday to face a Falcons team (2-3) that has found its offense, and they do it with a 31-7 loss in Green Bay still fresh in everyone’s mind. It also sets up a meeting of the NFL’s two best rushing attacks, with the Bears leading the league at 173.2 yards per game and Atlanta right behind at 166.8, according to the Associated Press.
Caleb Williams Is Close, But Not Cleared
Ben Johnson didn’t give a straight yes when he was asked Friday if Williams would play Sunday. His answer was one word. “Potentially.” Williams has put together three straight days of full practice, and the final injury report lists him as questionable. At press time, nothing is official. The Bears have not named a starter. Late Friday, ESPN and NFL Network reported, citing sources, that they are planning to start him.
Williams was just as careful on Thursday. “Before you start asking, I do not know if I’m playing yet,” he told reporters. He still has to clear the medical protocols and the stress testing that come with returning from a hamstring injury.
He was also direct about what the injury was. “It was a hamstring tear and a pretty serious one,” Williams said. He suffered it in the Week 2 loss to Minnesota and hasn’t played since. The Bears went 2-1 without him, with Case Keenum beating the Eagles 27-7 and Tyson Bagent beating the Jets 23-12 before the Packers game got away from them. Williams says he has hit one of the highest top speeds of his career during rehab, and when he was asked if the injury would be in his head the next time he has to scramble, he kept it short. “No. I’ll take off.”
The calendar adds a wrinkle, because the Bears turn around and play again Thursday. Williams wasn’t interested in looking that far ahead. “If I’m good to go, I’m good to go. If I’m not and it’s not ready, then we’ve got to wait,” he said. Johnson, for his part, says the backup plan is sound. “We’ve got two guys that are equally qualified.”
The Bijan Robinson Problem
Here is the reason both Johnson and Allen call this a huge challenge. Robinson leads the NFL with 580 rushing yards, and he ran for 194 yards and two touchdowns against the Packers in a game where Atlanta outrushed Green Bay 242 yards to 17. The Falcons had the league’s top run defense through four weeks and then gave up 208 yards to Baltimore in an overtime loss, which tells you this is a team that lives and dies by the ground game on both sides.
Johnson has been a Robinson fan since the 2023 draft. “I absolutely loved him,” he said, and he doesn’t think what Robinson does now is any different from his Texas tape. “It takes a village to try to bottle him up and get him down.” Johnson says what sets Robinson apart is his hands, which he compared to a receiver’s, and he didn’t hold back on where the Falcons back stands in the league. “He’s in that MVP race for a reason right now.”
Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is on the same page. “He’s a bigger player than you think when you watch it on tape,” Allen said. “I certainly think he’s, if not the, one of the best backs in our league right now.” Allen also pointed out that Brian Robinson Jr. gives Atlanta a second runner with a different style, and that the Falcons have been a different offense since Michael Penix Jr. took over.
If anyone knows how good Robinson is, it would be his former Texas teammate Roschon Johnson, who has gotten more running time with the injuries to Kyle Monangai. The two Longhorns were the first Texas running backs drafted in the same year since 1982, with Robinson going in the first round in 2023 and the Bears taking Johnson in the fourth round, 115th overall. Johnson finished his Texas career with 2,190 rushing yards on 392 carries and 23 rushing touchdowns, and he added 56 catches for 420 yards. His role in Chicago has been smaller. As a rookie in 2023 he ran for 352 yards and two touchdowns on 81 carries and caught 34 passes for 209 yards. This season he has nine carries for 22 yards and six catches for 41 yards through five games.
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson sees it as a team job, and he made a point of saying his position group can’t get greedy. “I think for us we still play corner, we still play pass first if we are trying to come down on the run and then we’re given up things behind us and then that doesn’t do anybody any good as well,” he said. His plan is simple. Hold the gaps, hold the leverages and keep Robinson in the box. “Or getting to the perimeter. That’s where he’s most dangerous.”
What Atlanta Is Saying
The Falcons have a quarterback watch of their own. Penix left last Sunday’s loss to the Ravens with a rib injury, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports he was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice and took every first-team rep. He admitted to some lingering discomfort, yet he told reporters “I made every throw today,” and coach Kevin Stefanski said he was trending toward starting as long as there were no setbacks. The AP reports he is expected to go, though like Williams, nothing is official until the inactive lists come out.
Penix has also done his homework on Chicago. According to the AJC, he watched extensive Bears film, including games from last season, and came away impressed with the players and the scheme. That is a fair read of a defense that ranks fifth in the league in scoring at 19.2 points per game. Atlanta’s offense has scored on 17 of 27 possessions since Penix returned in Week 3, and it put up 80 points in back-to-back road wins at Green Bay and New Orleans after an 0-2 start with Cooper Rush under center. Robinson called having Penix back a blessing. Drake London, meanwhile, leads the league with 221 yards after the catch.
Robinson also has a reunion circled on his calendar. Grady Jarrett, a fifth round pick of the Falcons in 2015 out of nearby Conyers, Georgia, spent his first ten seasons in Atlanta and now returns to Mercedes-Benz Stadium as a Bear. Jarrett told reporters it means a lot to go back and play in front of fans he knew for so long. Robinson was ready for it. “It’s gonna be great to go up against him for the first time.” There is a Chicago reunion on the other side too, because Falcons defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr., who played his first three seasons with the Bears, shares the team lead with 20 quarterback pressures. One more note for the Bears to chew on is that Atlanta is 0-2 at home this season.
A Defense Short on Bodies
Stopping a back like that gets harder when the roster is thin. Linebackers T.J. Edwards and Keyshaun Elliott and defensive lineman Dayo Odeyingbo are all out, and Montez Sweat is serving a two game suspension for a violation of the league’s performance-enhancing substances policy. Allen’s answer to all of it was short. “Next man up.” Shemar Turner is coming off PUP and will have a limited snap count, and Kyler Gordon is listed as questionable after practicing in full all week.
Johnson explained why a guy like Edwards matters beyond the tackles. “A lot of plays are won before the snap even happens and that’s what I think those green dots help bring to the table.” The defense also has to get better after giving up too many explosive plays against Green Bay, and Allen says the staff has spent the week on that.
Getting the Offense Back on Track
The offense has its own repair work after Green Bay. Offensive coordinator Press Taylor didn’t dodge it. “We got their best shot and we didn’t feel like we gave them our best shot,” he said, and he described a game where the Bears never found any rhythm. Running back Kyle Monangai is out for a second straight game, and Taylor said Swift has been a little banged up. The red zone is the other sore spot, and Taylor said there is no single cause. The staff is going back through tendencies and the details one play at a time. There is also help on the line, because Johnson says offensive lineman Ozzy Trapilo is close. “There’s a chance that he’s up this week.”
Taylor has spent time with the Ravens tape, where Derrick Henry ran for 102 yards against Atlanta. He noted that Henry bounced a couple of runs outside the edge setter after some gap schemes got boxed, and that Baltimore rode the wave once it started working.
Special Teams and a Little History
Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower is watching Atlanta’s return game closely. Wide receiver Zachariah Branch is the one who worries him. “Branch, he can go zero to ten in a hurry, man.” Hightower also noted the Chicago connections on the other sideline, since Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham used to work here and wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus spent time with the Bears. On the Chicago side, Zavion Thomas had a 61-yard return against the Packers, and Hightower wants more of the same, preferably all the way to the end zone.
The Bears and Falcons haven’t played since December 31, 2023, when Chicago won 37-17 at Soldier Field, and the Bears lead the all-time series 16-14. The first meeting goes back to 1966, Atlanta’s first season, when the Bears won 23-6. The one most Bears fans of a certain age remember is the 1985 team, which beat the Falcons 36-0 on its way to a championship.
Bears Falcons Week 6, How to Watch
Kickoff is set for noon Central on FOX, with Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady and Erin Andrews on the call. The radio crew includes Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer and Jason McKie on ESPN 1000. Watch for the inactive lists about 90 minutes before kickoff, because that is when we officially find out about Williams and Penix. We’ll have more Bears coverage all season right here on SRN Broadcasting.
Simply put, the Bears need to find a way to slow down one running back and get their quarterback back on the field. Do both and they head into a short week at 4-2.
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of Claude at the direction of the author who made all final edits.
