Going into their Week 6 matchup on Sunday, the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons have faced off against each other 30 times. It’s been a pretty even history between the two franchises, as the Bears have the slight 16-14 series lead since the first time they squared off against each other in 1966.
Each week going forward, we’re going to highlight some of the connections that the Bears’ coaching staff and roster each have with their opponent, as well as their opponent’s ties to Chicago. This week, we’re looking at the overlap between the Bears and the Falcons.
The Bears currently have three players on their roster who have suited up for the Falcons before. The recent most recent addition of the bunch is cornerback Clark Phillips III, who came over to Chicago in the Gervon Dexter Sr. trade (more on him later). Phillips got drafted by the Falcons in the fourth round in 2023, and he played in 28 games for the team over three seasons, starting in seven games and tallying 63 tackles, an interception, and ten pass deflections. He has suited up for three of the Bears’ five games this year but has not recorded a statistic.
Defensive tackle Kentavius Street also spent three seasons with the Falcons before joining the Bears in free agency this offseason. In his 25 games with Atlanta, he combined for 50 tackles, 4.0 sacks, and 11.0 tackles for loss. So far this year in Chicago, he has seven tackles and a sack in five games. Additionally, Bears practice squad wide receiver Scotty Miller had 11 catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns with the Falcons in his lone season there in 2023.
There’s a considerable presence of former Bears on the Falcons’ roster, as Atlanta has five players in its organization who have suited up for Chicago. Part of that likely comes down to the influence of former Bears general manager Ryan Pace, who was a key executive for the Falcons from 2022 to 2025.
However, the most notable name with Bears ties on the Falcons’ roster is Gervon Dexter, whom Chicago drafted in the second round in 2023 and traded to Atlanta just before the season. Going into Week 6, he ranks No. 24 among 118 qualified defensive tackles with a 79.2 PFN DT Impact grade. For reference, nobody on the Bears ranks higher than No. 83 this year.
Olamide Zaccheaus returned to the Falcons this offseason, having spent 2019 through 2022 in the organization. He bounced around a little bit after that stint, including a one-year stint with the Bears last year. In 2025, Zaccheaus caught 39 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns. The veteran wide receiver played a big role in Chicago’s offense in the early stages of Ben Johnson’s system installation.
Two other players on the Falcons’ active roster played for the Bears: linebacker Josh Woods and defensive tackle LaCale London. Woods signed with the Bears in 2018 as an undrafted free agent, and he spent four seasons in the organization. He didn’t play in any games as a rookie, but he’d go on to play 25 games over his next three seasons with the team, primarily as a backup linebacker and special teamer. London was an undrafted free agent signing by the Bears in 2020, and though he would stay with the team until August of 2022, he only ever played one regular season game with the team. After a stint in what was then the XFL, London signed with the Falcons in 2023 and has since turned into a solid rotational piece along their defensive line.
The Falcons also have former Bears running back Khalil Herbert on their practice squad. As fans may recall, Herbert was a sixth-round pick by the Bears in 2021 and played in 48 games with them, finishing with a grand total of 372 carries for 1,791 rushing yards (4.8 yards per carry) with nine rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns.
Off the field, the major connection between the two teams is Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham, who was previously the assistant general manager under Ryan Poles for Chicago. I don’t have to remind fans about the whole compensatory pick debacle. Cunningham was Poles’ right-hand man from 2022 to 2025. Atlanta also has two coaches who played for the Bears: assistant defensive backs coach Ricky Manning, and outside linebackers coach John Timu.
The Bears’ coaching staff has two notable ties to the Falcons’ organization. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen got his first NFL job with the Falcons, serving as a defensive quality control coordinator from 2002-03 and a defensive assistant from 2004-05. Bears linebackers coach Richard Smith was also the Falcons’ defensive coordinator from 2015-16, most notably serving in that role during Atlanta’s run to the Super Bowl in 2016.