Falcons take 14-7 halftime lead over Bears on Matt Ryan’s 2 TD passes

Falcons take 14-7 halftime lead over Bears

ATLANTA — Matt Ryan threw two second-quarter touchdowns and the Atlanta Falcons took a 14-7 lead over Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears on Sunday night.

Cutler threw two interceptions in the half.

Ryan was 7 for 7 for 57 yards on Atlanta’s second touchdown drive, including a 10-yard scoring pass to Tony 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.