The first game back for quarterback Caleb Williams was a good one, as the Chicago Bears notched a 31-23 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in Week 6.
The Bears were in total control for most of the game before the Falcons flipped the script in the fourth quarter. Thankfully, the Bears were able to hold them off to pull out the road win.
Other than that, there were a ton of positives to draw from this win for the Bears, including the performance of Williams.
We'll go over that and more as we take a look at the biggest takeaways from Chicago's win over Atlanta.
A near collapse
The Bears dominated to the point they held a 31-7 lead with under 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, but the Falcons came roaring back to make this game way too close for comfort.
After a scoring drive for the Falcons, Roschon Johnson coughed up the football on the next series and Atlanta went on to turn that into a touchdown and two-point conversion to pull to within one score.
After a Bears three-and-out, the Falcons had an opportunity to tie the game up, but Chicago's defense held to prevent the collapse.
Caleb Williams ignites the offense
Williams looked to be just fine in his first game back, as he was moving around just like he always does, so he was not at all hampered by his hamstring.
The former No. 1 overall pick was sharp, also, with Williams completing 29-of-35 passes for 291 yards and one score.
And, as you'd expect with that kind of performance, the Bears' offense got back on track. Luther Burden had his best game of the season, as did Colston Loveland, who even scored a touchdown.
Chicago's offensive success also allowed the Bears to dominate time of possession, which kept Bijan Robinson off the field.
Kyler Gordon makes massive impact
Gordon reminded everyone why the Bears need him as much as they do, as the slot cornerback made an immediate and massive impact during his 2026 debut.
Gordon was everywhere on Sunday, even getting some snaps on special teams, where he nearly blocked a punt.
Gordon's biggest impact came on defense, and more specifically, when he was asked to blitz. The veteran corner notched three sacks, four pressures, three tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
His biggest play of the game came in the fourth quarter when the Falcons were driving to tie it up. On a third-and-long, Gordon not only recorded his third sack but his second forced fumble, also, which the Bears recovered.
Just a monster day for Gordon, who was one of the best players on the field on Sunday.
Rebound on defense
Things got messy in the fourth quarter, but the Bears' defense still got the stop it needed to get and played much better overall than it did last week.
Chicago held Bijan Robinson to just 61 yards and the Falcons posted just 257 yards of total offense and they were 3-for-12 on third downs and 0-for-3 on fourth downs.
The Bears' pass-rush notched several pressures and five sacks in total, which was impressive considering the defense didn't have its best pass-rushers in Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo. Gordon notched three of those sacks and Daniel Hardy and Dillon Thieneman had one apiece.
Too many penalties
The Bears committed a whopping 12 penalties for 133 yards, with eight of those coming in the first half alone.
There were way too many holding penalties on offense, and more than one drive was wrecked as a result of them. It goes without saying the Bears need to clean that up.
Jonah Jackson hurt
Jackson got injured in the third quarter and never returned to the game.
Given the fact that he was immediately ruled doubtful suggests it's more than a minor issue. We'll see what kind of update head coach Ben Johnson can offer after the game.
Jackson has been phenomenal this season and an absence for any period of time would be a big blow to Chicago's offensive line.
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