ATLANTA -- For a team so reliant on offensive momentum, the last thing the Atlanta Falcons needed was a malfunction on that side of the ball -- something like a dropped pass or two.
Or five.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Falcons dropped five Matt Ryan passes Sunday during a 27-13 loss to the Chicago Bears. Second-year tight end Levine Toilolo had three, and Roddy White and Julio Jones each had one.
Entering the game, the Falcons had four drops all season.
"It doesn't concern me that it's a veteran player or a young player; we've got to complete balls," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "We've got to make the plays when the plays are presented to us. And we had some opportunities today, and we did not get that done."
We've seen what the Falcons are capable of when they have a good offensive rhythm. It was evident in the season opener, when they scored 37 points and racked up 568 total yards in a overtime win over New Orleans. It was obvious in a Week 3 win over Tampa Bay, when the Falcons scored 56 points and amassed 488 total yards.
But Sunday, against a Bears team knew they would have to outscore based on their untrustworthy defense, the Falcons stumbled from the outset and managed just 287 total yards. They converted just 4-of-13 on third down. They managed just 42 rushing yards on 13 carries. And Ryan was sacked a season-high four times.
The offense would have flowed a lot more smoothly had it not been for those drops.
"It's tough when those things happen multiple times in one game," said Ryan, who completed 19 of 37 passes for 271 yards with one touchdown and one interception. "I've made plenty of poor throws myself. You have got to shake those off and move past them. You have to go back out there and make the play next time it presents itself."
White's drop came in the second quarter with the Falcons trailing 10-3. Ryan found him deep down the field, but White dropped the ball before taking what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit from Bears safety Ryan Mundy. No penalty was called on Mundy, and the drive stalled.
White was not available to the media after the game. Neither was Jones.
Toilolo, however, took full responsibility for his blunders.
"Got to fix them in practice," Toilolo said. "All these plays, I've made before. When they come to me, I've got to make them. Sometimes, I'll trying to do a little too much. I'm turning my eyes down the field before I tuck the ball. Yeah, I think for, it's a mindset, confidence. All those catches are catches I've made a thousand times.
"I think a couple of those would have been first downs. On all the drives I had drops, we ended up punting or turning the ball over. That hurts our rhythm and our flow of the offense. That's something that we can't have."
Especially when the offense is expected to carry the team.
