FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Welcome back to Early Bird Report!

The Atlanta Falcons dropped their second straight game on Sunday. Much of the sentiment from head coach Kevin Stefanski and in the locker room after the game centered around the team's slow start, which allowed the Chicago Bears to build a 14-0 lead and ultimately take a 31-7 lead before the Falcons mounted a late fourth-quarter comeback.

The Falcons have another tough test on deck against the San Francisco 49ers, and they will take a hard look at this loss to learn the lessons for a win in Week 7.

The day after each game this season, we will collect all the nuggets we haven't used and organize them in a digestible way to give fans as comprehensive a view of the team as possible.

Here are the notes and quotes you should know from Bears vs. Falcons.

Teammates send up prayers for Kendal Daniels

Although Za'Darius Smith returned to the lineup for Atlanta on Sunday, several more defenders were injured during the course of the game.

The most notable injury involved rookie linebacker Kendal Daniels, who was carted off the field during the third quarter after tackling Bears tight end Colston Loveland. After the game, head coach Kevin Stefanski said the initial reports on Daniels were positive.

"He did have movement in his extremities out there on the field," he said. "I thought the medical staff did an outstanding job of getting him safely off the field. All reports so far have been good, and we'll continue to pray that they remain good."

In the locker room, multiple players shared their thoughts and well wishes for Daniels.

RB Bijan Robinson: "I was just praying, just asking, God, 'Please protect him, please cover him.' Because that's a scary moment. Not just for our team, but for the other team too. That's a player in this league that we all respect. And when you see him going down like that and having a bad injury like that, that you just don't know of, all you can do is rely on your faith and allow God to pick him up and protect him."

DE Cam Thomas: "That's tough, you know? I was on the sideline. He made a good play, too. He made a good hit, and I started celebrating, and then when I saw he didn't get up, I just had that gut feeling. Nobody wants to [see that]. It's a tough feeling. [I'll] check in on him here a little bit and make sure he's doing all right, but it's tough."

DE Samson Ebukam: "I didn't exactly see what happened, but I'm glad that he was moving at the end of it. I'm glad that he was moving at the end of it. I know that God's with him, so I think he'll be just fine. It's unfortunate. Yeah, we're here with him. We're here with him. We're gonna be praying for him."

DT Gervon Dexter Sr.: "It sucks, definitely a guy like him, who obviously just worked back from the injury. Then the type of player he is, and what he brings to the team. You know, he's a young guy; he brings that energy. So, it's unfortunate. I'm praying for him, and hopefully everything's okay."

LB Harold Perkins Jr.: "I was just hoping and praying that he'd get up and he was all right. I was worried about his safety, more so than football."

DE Zach Harrison: "I'm just praying for him. Really, all you can do is pray for him. He's like a little brother to us, all of us in the locker room. [He] brings great energy. He's a great player, too, seeing him develop and grow from camp to where he is now. And I guess all I can do is just pray that it's nothing serious. They did all the precautionary stuff to just be safe. But hopefully he's back in the building tomorrow, himself, laughing and joking."

QB Michael Penix Jr.: "Everybody went out on the field. Just told him that we're there for him and just prayed for him. That's all we could do at that moment. We don't know what's going on with him. We saw he was moving, so that was obviously a positive, and that was something that gave us hope. But all you can do is pray for him in that moment and just be there for him as a teammate.

"He was like, 'Y'all go finish this off.' That's what he said when he was getting carted off. He said, 'Y'all go finish this off,' so he was in good spirits."

Daniels returned to the locker room after the game concluded and most of his teammates had already left. He was accompanied by trainers but was walking on his own.

Fourth-quarter fireworks from Kyle Pitts

Although most of his production came in the fourth quarter with the Falcons down by multiple scores, Pitts' performance late in the game was encouraging.

He began his impressive stretch by snatching the ball away from Bears safety Elijah Hicks as he tried to undercut an out route, and then dancing away from multiple defenders to pick up 29 yards down the right sideline. On one play, he displayed all of the physical gifts that have long made him such a fascinating player.

Three plays later, he capped the drive with a 10-yard touchdown catch. During Atlanta's next series, Pitts caught a 10-yard pass and a 5-yard touchdown on back-to-back plays. On his touchdown grab, Pitts dragged standout rookie safety Dillon Thieneman into the end zone.

"Whenever 'KP' is open, I'm not just looking past him," Michael Penix Jr. said. "... He's one of our best players on the team, so we've got to get all of our best players opportunities to go be great, and we're going to continue to do that."

Penix vs. Bears' pressure

According to Next Gen Stats, the Bears pressured Penix on 56.4% of his dropbacks on Sunday. That is Chicago's highest blitz rate in a game this season.

The Bears sacked Penix five times, including three quarterback takedowns by defensive back Kyler Gordon in his first game of the 2026 season. Gordon was used effectively as a blitzer, with Next Gen noting that all five of his pressures against Atlanta came in under 2.5 seconds.

"They brought a lot of different looks on the blitz," Bijan Robinson said. "So it was just some things that we gotta fix on that aspect. I gotta be better. Make sure I get across in time so I can make sure Mike's comfortable."

Despite Chicago bringing the heat early and often, Penix made them pay when the Bears couldn't get home. Against their 22 blitzes, Penix completed 10 of his 18 passes for 121 yards and 3 touchdowns.

"I feel good health-wise," Penix said. "I feel good. My ribs, I came out of the game last week for that. Those held up, and I feel good."

Falcons prepared for shift to silent count

The Bears have long had a reputation for being among the most passionate fan bases in football. And coming off a remarkable 2025 season that featured two thrilling comebacks over their most hated rival, including one to knock them out of the postseason, this is a particularly energized bunch of supporters.

Atlanta spent time practicing its silent count on offense during the week to prepare for the possibility that Bears fans would make their presence known inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed after the game that the offense did turn to the silent count.

"Our fans are so supportive, but we just felt like we'd likely need to be on the silent count," Stefanski said of practicing it.

Atlanta had no pre-snap penalties on offense against the Bears, so the transition to and from any silent counts went smoothly.

The Falcons will look to earn their first win at home this season when they take on the 49ers on Sunday.

"This is a place that we love to play, and we love to play in front of our fans," Stefanski said. "Not to be able to win this one stings, and we've got to find ways to play better and coach better, starting this week."