Falcons say QB Penix on track to start vs. Bears if no setbacks

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  Marc RaimondiOct 14, 2026, 12:41 PM ET

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  Marc Raimondi's first year covering the Falcons was 2024, but it wasn't his first year at ESPN. He joined the company in 2019 and was a top combat sports reporter. He also covered professional wrestling and wrote the book "Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Pro Wrestling's New World Order Changed America," which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2025. Raimondi also worked for the New York Post and Newsday, beginning in 2009, covering high school and college sports, plus the NFL, NFL, MLB and NHL.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will start Sunday against the Chicago Bears despite a rib injury, as long as there are no setbacks during the week, coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday.

Penix will practice in limited fashion Wednesday, Stefanski said.

In Sunday night's loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Penix took a big hit late in the fourth quarter and came out of the game. He returned one play later, but when the tie game went into overtime, Tua Tagovailoa entered as the Falcons quarterback.

The Ravens scored a touchdown on their first drive in OT and Tagovailoa threw a game-ending interception.

Penix had imaging done earlier this week, but Stefanski said he didn't want to get into specifics about the extent of the rib injury. Stefanski said Penix is "feeling better."

Regarding snap share this week in practice, Stefanski said all of that will depend on Penix.

"I want to see how he's feeling," Stefanski said. "With any injury like this, you want to make sure as they move around and how they're feeling -- it could be all, some, none. We shall see."

Penix, 26, just returned to the Falcons' lineup in Week 3 after left ACL surgery last November.

Without him and Tagovailoa (oblique) to start the season, the Atlanta offense, led by third-stringer Cooper Rush, scored a combined 16 points in two weeks. The following two weeks, with Penix back, the Falcons crushed the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints on the road, scoring a combined 80 points, a league-high during that stretch.