Kyler Gordon delivered a historic individual performance with three sacks and two forced fumbles as the Chicago Bears defeated the Atlanta Falcons 31-23 in Week 6 on Sunday.
Gordon's three sacks were the most by a defensive back in a single NFL game, according to a CBS Sports game report.
His biggest play came with 2:54 remaining, when he sacked Michael Penix Jr. and forced a fumble that Devin Bush recovered at the Atlanta 28-yard line.
The Bears improved to 4-2 despite committing 12 penalties for 133 yards and allowing Atlanta to score 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Chicago had led 31-7 entering the final period before holding on for the win.
Gordon and Williams Return from Injury
Gordon was activated from the physically unable to perform list before the game after a calf injury delayed his season debut.
His previous season had also been disrupted by a groin injury, limiting him to three regular-season games and two playoff appearances.
Bears coach Ben Johnson described Gordon's readiness after discussing his return during the week.
"I asked him if he was ready to go," Johnson said. "He said 'absolutely' and he certainly was."
Quarterback Caleb Williams also returned from a hamstring injury after missing three consecutive games.
Williams completed his first 12 passes, opening with six completions for 64 yards on Chicago's first possession, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Colston Loveland.
He finished 30 of 36 for 305 yards and one touchdown.
According to the Bears' game analysis published by Yahoo Sports, Williams completed 83% of his passes, the highest completion rate by a Bears quarterback with at least 30 attempts.
Next Gen Stats recorded him completing all 24 attempts from a clean pocket for 248 yards.
Williams said his time away from the field had left him eager to return to competition.
"You're itching on the sideline during the season. I've had a hamstring injury before, but it was at the end of the year.
I had three weeks to be able to get back and play. And so being able sit back and recover, recover, recover ...
and when I get back just to show who I am and who we are," Williams said.
The quarterback also acknowledged that he had not yet reviewed his performance in detail.
"I didn't know that I went 30 for 36, and so I've got to go obviously back and watch the tape," Williams said.
"I missed a couple things."
Running back D'Andre Swift scored twice on the ground and finished with 70 total yards, while Loveland caught six passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.
Luther Burden III added eight receptions for 95 yards, according to Yahoo Sports' fantasy analysis.
Falcons' Slow Start Proves Costly
Atlanta quarterback Michael Penix Jr. completed 19 of 33 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns.
Tight end Kyle Pitts caught two scoring passes, while Drake London converted a two-point attempt after the Falcons reduced Chicago's lead to eight points.
Penix said Atlanta's slow start made it difficult to maintain its offensive approach.
"We just can't get off a schedule like that," Penix said.
"We've got to find a way to start fast so that we can keep Bijan in the game, keep the running backs and the running game going so that we can go out there execute things in the pass game as well."
Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski accepted responsibility for the team's opening struggles.
"We talked at length about starting fast in this ball game, and we did not," Stefanski said. "That's on me and our and our staff.
We've got to get that fixed because that's when we just put ourselves in the hole."
Chicago coach Ben Johnson said the penalty problems had returned after the team had improved in recent weeks.
"We just got to be more aware of it and play cleaner football with our hands and things of that nature," Johnson said.
"So what we'll look at that. We had some penalty issues early in the season.
Last few weeks we cleaned those up significantly. This one is kind of back up again."
The game also brought injury concerns for both teams.
Atlanta linebacker Kendal Daniels was taken off the field on a stretcher with a neck injury, but the Falcons announced he was alert and had movement in all extremities while being evaluated at Grady Hospital in Atlanta.
Chicago hosts New England on Thursday night, while Atlanta is scheduled to host San Francisco the following Sunday.
