Allen’s sack drought over
ATLANTA— The Bears signed defensive end Jared Allen with this situation in mind: The offense staking the Bears to a late lead, and their opponents having to play catch- up.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had to pass. A lot.
“We have to take advantage of those situations,” said Allen, who notched his first sack with the Bears in the fourth quarter of their 27- 13 victory Sunday at the Georgia Dome. “Everybody played off each other really well.”
Allen’s sack was one of three in the last 10: 03. Fellow end Willie
Young had the other two to push his total to six. Defensive tackle
Stephen Paea sacked Ryan in the second quarter.
With no zone- read option to worry about, Allen said the pass rush was “100 percent” in a better rhythm against the more stationary Ryan. Atlanta didn’t chip- block Allen as much as he was anticipating. Rookie left tackle Jake Matthews, who was called for holding twice in the second half, had to fend off Allen, and Bears 2011 first- round pick Gabe Carimi dealt with Young and Lamarr Houston on the other side. Press- box statisticians had the Bears with seven quarterback hits.
“Ryan is a great quarterback,” Young said. “To be able to get pressure on him was very important.”
Allen and Young actually did their respective calf- roping and gone- fishin’ sack dances together twice in the fourth quarter after colliding on Ryan.
“He tried to jump in on mine, and I’m pretty sure we had that second one,” a laughing Allen said. “We’ll have to look at the tape. Sometimes you have to celebrate to sell it. The people in the booth are watching the game, too, so you got to sell it.”
Besting Hester
The Bears’ special teams still had their miscues, but their plan for returner Devin Hester worked to near- perfection. The former Bears star returned two punts for 10 yards and two kickoffs for 44 yards.
“We had a good plan to try to keep it away from Devin, obviously,” punter Pat O’Donnell said. “The guys did a good job of getting down there and covering him.” That they did. “It was just a point of emphasis all week,” said special- teamer
Teddy Williams, who chased down Hester on one punt return. “The main thing was . . . continue to play our game and not get caught up in the hype [ of facing Hester].”
Ratliff returns
Defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff played his first game since suffering his concussion in Week 2. He called it a long process and credited the Bears “for taking all the right precautions and the right protocol.”
“As a player, it is a little frustrating, but it’s the right thing to do,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff started and helped limit the Falcons to 42 rushing yards.
Conte hurts shoulder
According to a source, safety Chris Conte suffered a sprained right shoulder early in the third quarter. Conte is scheduled for an MRI. He sprained his left shoulder earlier this season.