Bears looking to get a pass against Falcons (literally)

The more often Atlanta rookie quarterback Matt Ryan throws the ball today, the better it will be for the Bears.

Not to diminish what the third overall pick in this year's draft has done for the rebuilding Falcons, but when Ryan's putting the ball up a lot it usually means that one of the NFL's most productive running games isn't hitting on all cylinders.

In the Falcons' 3 victories this season, Ryan threw an average of just 19 passes, completing 12. That's because the Falcons ran an average of 38 times in those games for a whopping 227 yards per contest.

In Atlanta's 2 losses, Ryan threw an average of 37 times and completed just 17 while the NFL's No. 2 ground game produced, on average, 111.5 yards. The Falcons lost those games - to Tampa Bay in Week 2 and Carolina in Week 4 - by identical 24-9 scores.

Even though it might seem wise to come after Ryan with a variety of exotic blitzes, that's why the Bears are much more likely to load up the line of scrimmage with extra tacklers to contain the NFL's leading rusher, Michael Turner, and big-play specialist Jerious Norwood, who is averaging a ridiculous 6.6 yards per carry.

"Our No. 1 focus is going to be to stop the run," defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "And hopefully maybe we'll try to let him beat us with the pass. We're really not going to bring much to stop him because they have the No. 2 rushing team in the league."

And Ryan isn't your typical deer-in-the-headlights rookie QB who freezes with the ball in his hands while the pocket collapses around him. He has been sacked just twice in the past three games for a total loss of 8 yards. He also has thrown just 1 interception in those three games while flinging 3 TD passes.

"They're doing a good job of getting him out (on bootlegs)," Ogunleye said. "They're not leaving him back there by himself. He's getting the ball out of his hand really quickly, and they have a great running attack, which has been able to help them out.

"They're a running team, so they're not really leaving it up to him to make the big plays. All he has to do is go through and manage the game."

According to coach Lovie Smith, the Bears no longer consider Ryan an inexperienced rookie who can easily be rattled.

"The first game, if you're playing a rookie, you would take that approach," Smith said. "But once the guy has five games plus the preseason, you could say he's played a college season already.

"We're not looking at Matt Ryan like he's a rookie quarterback. He's a quarterback who's being productive, who's led his team to a winning record so far."

While the Bears will try to confuse young Ryan with different looks and by mixing up coverages, they'd rather take their chances on the quarterback beating them than Atlanta's running backs, even though the Bears' defense has 7 sacks over the past two games, 4 of them last Sunday at Detroit.

"Detroit likes to do a lot of man-on-man blocking," Ogunleye said. "We're going to get a little bit of that against Atlanta, but they're a running team, too, so don't expect the sack total to be high."

The Bears' defense is much more interested in ensuring that the Falcons' rushing total isn't high.

• The Bears on Saturday waived two players from the practice squad: receiver Mike Hass and punter Zac Atterberry.