Nick Foles came off the bench and completed three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to lead the Chicago Bears to a 30-26 comeback win over the host Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon.
Foles completed the rally with a go-ahead, 28-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller with 1:53 remaining. Bears safety Tashaun Gipson made an interception on the Falcons' next drive to seal the victory.
Chicago (3-0) remained unbeaten after three weeks for the first time since 2013. Jimmy Graham led the Bears with two touchdown catches while Miller and Allen Robinson added one touchdown reception apiece.
Foles completed 16 of 29 passes for 188 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in less than two quarters. The 31-year-old veteran replaced Mitchell Trubisky, who completed 13 of 22 passes for 128 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Matt Ryan completed 19 of 38 passes for 238 yards, one touchdown and one interception for Atlanta (0-3). The Falcons are winless after three weeks for the first time since 2007, adding to questions about the future of embattled coach Dan Quinn.
The Falcons led 26-10 in the second half before the Bears rallied, similar to last week when Atlanta squandered a 19-point halftime lead over the Dallas Cowboys.
Todd Gurley gave the Falcons a 23-10 advantage on the first drive after halftime. He bounced left and stiff-armed a Bears defender for a 10-yard score -- his second rushing touchdown of the season and No. 60 of his career.
A 36-yard field goal by Younghoe Koo on Atlanta's next drive increased the lead to 16 points with 10:02 left in the third quarter.
Foles then entered for Chicago and led the Bears down the field before throwing a hard-luck interception. He lobbed a 21-yard pass along the right sideline to Robinson, who caught the ball in the end zone only to have it wrestled away by Falcons cornerback Darqueze Dennard. The play initially was ruled as a touchdown, but the call was reversed after video review.
In the fourth, Foles came through with a 3-yard touchdown strike to Graham to slice the deficit to 26-16. The Bears failed on a two-point-conversion attempt.
Foles notched his second touchdown pass on a 37-yard score by Robinson with 4:21 to go. He zipped a quick pass to the left for Robinson, who broke through a pair of would-be tacklers and sprinted to the end zone to bring the Bears within 26-23.
The Falcons allowed the go-ahead score from Foles to Miller in the final two minutes despite putting pressure on the quarterback. Atlanta's secondary allowed Miller to cut across the middle of the field for the decisive touchdown.
Atlanta played without star wideout Julio Jones, who was inactive because of a hamstring injury.
--Field Level Media
Chicago | Atlanta | |
David Montgomery | Player | Todd Gurley |
14 | Attempts | 14 |
45 | Yards | 80 |
3.2 | Avg Yards | 5.7 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
11 | Long | 16 |
Chicago | Atlanta | |
Allen Robinson II | Player | Calvin Ridley |
10 | Receptions | 5 |
123 | Yards | 110 |
12.3 | Avg Yards | 22.0 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
37 | Long | 63 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Chicago | 437 | 130 | 307 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 1 |
Atlanta | 371 | 144 | 227 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 |