National Football League

Falcons protect 14-7 lead over Bears

Published Oct. 19, 2009 4:16 a.m. ET

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Matt Forte fumbled on two straight carries from the Atlanta 1-yard line and lost the second fumble as the Falcons protected their 14-7 lead over the Chicago Bears after three quarters on Sunday night. Matt Ryan threw two second-quarter touchdown passes and Chicago's Jay Cutler threw two interceptions in the first half. The Bears had a long drive from their 40 end when Jonathan Babineaux's hit forced Forte's fumble on a third-down carry from the 1. Falcons linebacker Coy Wire lost his helmet as he made the fumble recovery at the 2. On second down, Forte fumbled when hit by linebacker Curtis Lofton, but Forte recovered the fumble. Cutler had a 24-yard pass to tight end Desmond Clark in the drive. Bears cornerback Zackary Bowman intercepted Ryan's pass intended for Tony Gonzalez on the Falcons' first drive of the second half. The Bears couldn't take advantage of the turnover and had to punt after three plays. Ryan was 7 for 7 for 57 yards on Atlanta's second touchdown drive, including a 10-yard scoring pass to Gonzalez with 9 seconds remaining in the half. Ryan faked a pass to his left before throwing to Gonzalez in the back of the end zone. Gonzalez celebrated by dunking the ball over the crossbar. The Bears took a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter on Cutler's 23-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Knox. Cutler threw four interceptions in the Bears' opening game against Green Bay and then threw only one interception in the next three games before he was picked off twice by Atlanta safety Thomas DeCoud. The Falcons quickly took advantage of the second interception, which gave Atlanta possession at its 45. After two runs for a combined 15 yards by Jerious Norwood and Michael Turner, Ryan threw a screen pass to White, who broke a tackle by linebacker Nick Roach and then raced 40 yards for the tying touchdown. Roach was the fill-in starter for Hunter Hillenmeyer, who was held out for the second straight game with a rib injury. Norwood left the game late in the half with a hip injury.

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