Caleb Williams completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards in his first game back from a torn hamstring, and Kyler Gordon’s strip-sack of Michael Penix Jr. snuffed out Atlanta’s last threat as the Chicago Bears held on for a 31-23 win over the Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, October 18.
The win lifts Chicago to 4-2, one week after a 31-7 loss at Green Bay. Atlanta, which trailed by 24 points early in the fourth quarter before scoring 16 in a row, drops to 2-4.
A fast start and a long lead
Williams, who had missed three games, hit his first 12 throws. The opening possession covered 67 yards in 10 plays and ended with a 14-yard scoring pass to Colston Loveland at 8:15 of the first quarter.
Colston Loveland in traffic for the TD 🤩
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/391AmEl7Qj
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 18, 2026
D’Andre Swift ran in from the 4 with 1:07 left in the quarter to finish a nine-play, 59-yard drive, and Chicago was up 14-0. Penix answered midway through the second quarter, connecting with Jahan Dotson on a 13-yard touchdown that capped a four-play, 54-yard march.
Atlanta’s ball security then began to cost it. A Falcons fumble handed Chicago the ball 10 yards from the end zone late in the half, and Swift scored his second touchdown from the 2 with 1:26 left for a 21-7 halftime edge. Roschon Johnson pushed it to 28-7 on a 4-yard run at 1:48 of the third quarter, and Cairo Santos opened the fourth with a 50-yard field goal at 14:56 for a 31-7 cushion.
Atlanta’s rally, and Gordon’s reply
With Chicago’s defensive starters given an early rest, the Falcons came alive. Penix led a 91-yard, eight-play drive and found Kyle Pitts Sr. from 10 yards out at 9:34, then threw to Zachariah Branch for two points. After Roschon Johnson lost a fumble, Atlanta needed only five plays to go 57 yards: Penix hit Pitts again from the 5 with 5:41 to play, and Drake London caught the conversion pass to make it 31-23.
The Falcons got one more look at a tying drive. Gordon, in his first game of the season after the Bears activated him from the physically unable to perform list on Saturday, came free and knocked the ball out of Penix’s hands. Devin Bush fell on it at the Atlanta 28, and Chicago ran out the clock.
WELCOME BACK, KYLER GORDON
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/mLaoOqQgPt
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 18, 2026
Gordon finished with three of Chicago’s five sacks and two forced fumbles. Daniel Hardy and Dillon Thieneman had the other two.
The numbers
Luther Burden III led the Bears with eight catches for 95 yards, and Loveland added six for 65 and the touchdown. Roschon Johnson gained 51 yards on 13 carries and Swift 44 on 16. Chicago outgained Atlanta 368-257 and controlled the ball for 40:08, though it was flagged 12 times for 133 yards.
Penix finished 19 of 33 for 225 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, but he was sacked five times. Dotson had three receptions for 87 yards, Pitts five for 60 and two scores, and Bijan Robinson ran nine times for 61 yards. Atlanta lost three fumbles, two of them by Branch. The Falcons also lost linebacker Divine Deablo and rookie Kendal Daniels, who left on a stretcher with a neck injury in the third quarter.
Williams said afterward that he “felt comfortable from the rip.” Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski pointed to the other end of the game: “We talked at length about starting fast in this ball game, and we did not.”
What comes next
The Bears have a short week, hosting the New England Patriots at Soldier Field on Thursday, October 22, at 8:15 p.m. ET. The Falcons stay home to face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, October 25, at 1 p.m. ET.
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