Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has been cleared to start this Sunday against the Chicago Bears after missing time with a rib injury, head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed. Penix carried no injury designation heading into the game and practiced in full all week.
The injury scare came late in Atlanta’s Week 6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, when Penix was sacked and briefly left the game. He returned for one play but sat out overtime because of rib discomfort, raising questions about whether the Falcons’ young quarterback had suffered another setback after a run of injury trouble dating back to his college days, including a torn ACL last November that required surgery.
An MRI earlier in the week showed no reason to hold him out, and Stefanski said Wednesday that Penix was on track to start barring any new issues. He added that he does not expect Penix to need extra protective measures for his ribs on Sunday, nor does he anticipate adjusting the Falcons’ game plan because of the injury.
Penix made his 2026 debut in Week 3 and helped Atlanta notch its first win of the season. He followed that with 223 passing yards in a dominant Week 4 victory over the New Orleans Saints, a game in which Bijan Robinson added 145 rushing yards. Across those two weeks, the Falcons scored a league-high 80 combined points. This season Penix has thrown for 719 yards and three touchdowns.
Williams’ Availability Still Unresolved
On the other side of the ball, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ status for Sunday’s game in Atlanta remains unsettled. Williams has missed Chicago’s past three games with a hamstring injury and was listed as a full participant on the team’s injury report for a second straight day on Thursday.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson confirmed Williams’ full-participant status on Wednesday, but Williams himself said no decision had been made on whether he will play.
“Before you start asking, do not know if I’m playing yet,” Williams told reporters. “Have to go through a bunch of medical protocols, obviously have to get out there and practice, do the stress testing that you do when you’re trying to come back from injury or serious injury.”
Williams also pushed back on how his injury has been described publicly, saying reports have mischaracterized its severity.
“There’s nothing that has come out that has been right about what it is and what it has been,” Williams said, describing the injury as a “pretty serious” hamstring tear.
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