No answers for McCaffrey, but plenty of missed opportunities and costly errors doom Falcons
Oct 20, 2025
In today’s NFL, you are only as good as your last game.
On Monday Night Football, the Atlanta Falcons were the talk of the sporting world after a dynamic performance by Bijan Robinson and an all-in effort by the entire team to walk away with a win against the visiting Bills at MBS.
Flash ahead less than a week later. Sunday Night Football on the other side of the continent. They were embarrassed and exposed by the San Francisco 49ers and their wonderkind running back Christian McCaffrey, losing in front of a national audience 20-10 at Levis Stadium.
Falcon fans are used to these kinds of reality checks. The Falcons still have not put together the kind of consistency in making plays and winning games that earns them some degree of respect in the national sports world (and to be honest, even locally). For different reasons, playcalling, coaching, situational awareness errors, youth and inexperience, incompetence, bad officiating, bad luck, the other team was better, you name it, the Falcons savor rare wins and rue embarrassing losses in every other week patterns.
The 49ers defense had answers for the Falcons offense, slowing down Robinson, London, and others, while the Falcons, losing Devine Deablo to injury, had to make due with a weakened defense that could not hold back a will-imposing 49ers offense.
Trying to keep up with McCaffery and the 49ers defense was tough enough, but the Falcons burned themselves by picking up dumb penalties like having too many men on the field or holding penalties that killed promising drives.
The 49ers (or any other NFL team for that matter) watch film and hone in on plays of their future opponents, and develop game plans to counter their opponents’ moves. Do they recognize this reality at Flowery Branch? Is there a game plan Zac Robinson has at the ready when teams realize in order to stop the Falcons, you have to stop Bijan Robinson and Drake London, or slow down the Falcons (sporadically used) run game? If Robinson can’t make adjustments when his plans aren’t working on the field, maybe moving him closer to the action isn’t enough.
Not to say the 49ers didn’t get some help from the guys in striped shirts. In the 4th quarter, McCaffrey was pulled into the endzone by his teammates, and was not called by the refs. Instead of a penalty, the 49ers had their 5-2 improvement confirmed.
But things like this don’t really matter when you are outplayed by the opposition, trip on your own mistakes, and don’t take advantage of opportunities when they arise. And you set yourself up for the Monday Morning Quarterbacking that’s sure to come up when you lose a winable game. It’s a deja vu that Falcon fans and observers are all too familiar with.
Bijan Robinson last week was the running back everyone was talking about Tuesday morning after MNF. Monday morning, it will be McCaffrey. In fact, the lauding has already started: “Christian McCaffrey is the best running back in the league,” proclaimed CBS Sports’ Logan Ryan after the game. Some were saying that same thing about Robinson. “He is a bad man.” Remember what I wrote earlier about only being as good as your last game?
McCaffery’s performance earned him some praise. According to Next Gen Stats, McCaffrey totaled 109 yards, the third highest of his career, and totaled 7 explosive runs (10 yards or more) that night, tying his career high. This was against the Falcons’ vaulted defense tonight.
Michael Penix Jr., again had a game that reminded folks he’s still learning the ropes in the NFL. One mistake had disastrous consequences. As the team was trying to score before the half, Penix Jr. threw the ball into the stands, where he was flagged for intentional grounding and hit with a loss of down penalty that shut the Falcons down and sent them to the locker room with the 49ers having all the momentum. Penix was 21 of 38, with one touchdown and 241 passing yards.
Penix wasn’t making any excuses for his team’s loss.
“We’ve gotta find a way to win,” he said after the game. “We have too many good players on this team not to find a way.”
Losing games like this, when your opponent has some banged-up defensive players and injured starters but still finds a way to hand you a loss, is a humbling thing. But when you make mistakes that put another albatross around your neck, it once again puts the Falcons in a negative spotlight that leaves fans hard-pressed to defend them on nights/days like this.
And with a tough schedule ahead, it won’t get any easier for the Dirty Birds.
NOTES
- Divine Deablo’s injury is not what the Falcons need. This creates a hole in the defense that will be tough to fill. JD Bertrand was called in to fill the void, with lackluster results.
- QB Penix Jr. was on the receiving end of a tough sack in the 4th quarter that left him hobbling. Morris says they will learn more tomorrow about the health status of Penix Jr.
- Scrutny will only increase on the playcalling of Zac Robinson. Morris said in an after-game presser that the team needed to do a better job on coaching.
- Raheem Morris took responsibility for having 10 defenders on third-and-13. More on this on Pro Football Talk.
- The Falcons are known (or would like to be known) as a run-the-ball team, but they didn’t do much of that tonight against the 49ers. The Falcons got 292 total yards against the 49ers 324. Bijan Robinson, who set records last week with his running game, was held to only 40 rushing yards tonight.
- Kyle Pitts is the Baller of the Game, with 62 yards from 7 receptions.
