Gone With The Wins

Hired from Louisville before last season, Petrino notoriously quit last December with three games remaining to become coach at Arkansas. Some Falcons say he made them feel more like college players than grown men and expressed no interest in what they had to say. They say Petrino even had them kneel and look up at him when he spoke to them after practice.

Smith is the opposite. After the former Jaguars defensive coordinator was hired in January, he reached out to all the players who lived in the Atlanta area and met with each one personally. He also went around the training complex and introduced himself to every employee in the building, regardless of position. The goal was to let them all know that they are a part of the process, a piece of the puzzle.

IT SEEMED as if the Falcons used every piece to turn back the Bears. They got a goal line stand from the defense, five field goals and an 85-yard kickoff return from the special teams, and 14 first downs on passes from Ryan, including the one that set up the winning field goal and helped further distance the Falcons from their recent past. "It almost brought me to tears," Abraham said of the victory. "All the stuff we've been through the last couple of years, to have a team that plays together and genuinely loves each other and likes playing with each other, it's special. Anytime we needed a play, somebody made it. That was a great catch by Jenkins and a great pass by Matt."

The one player who took issue with Ryan was Jackson, the massive defensive tackle. The two had agreed before the Bears game that Ryan would do some sort of dance after scoring a touchdown or throwing for a score. Ryan failed to deliver after his three-yard toss to White early in the fourth quarter. "I lost my train of thought," Ryan said later. "I just got so excited that I forget to do it. But it's coming, it's coming."

It's about the only thing that Ryan has left his teammates wanting.