Coming off their road win over the Packers, the Falcons went home for a Week 6 duel with the Chicago Bears.  In the first quarter, Atlanta took flight as kicker Jason Elam got a 29-yard and a 48-yard field goal.  In the second quarter, the Falcons increased their lead as Elam kicked a 32-yard field goal.  The Bears would respond with kicker Robbie Gould getting a 36-yard field goal.Entering Sunday game with the Bears, the Falcons led the NFL in first quarter scoring with 48 points. After posting two field goals for a 6-0 lead following the first 15 minutes of play against Chicago, Atlanta has now outscored its opponent in the first quarter by a 54-14 margin. A chance at a touchdown came with 9:16 remaining in the first half after a curious turn of events near the goal line. A third-down run by Jerious Norwood came up short and ended with a fumble. Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris recovered but lost the ball before he was touched down. Jason Snelling recovered the ball for the Falcons, who got a fresh set of downs. Following the first half of play, the Falcons defense held the Bears to 20 first half rushing yards. The 20 yards are the fewest given up in the first half of a game by Atlanta's defense since October 1, 2006, against Arizona (two yards). In the third quarter, the Falcons continued to add onto their lead as Elam got a 41-yard field goal, yet Chicago answered with RB Matt Fort&#233; getting a 3-yard TD run.  In the fourth quarter, Atlanta replied with rookie quarterback Matt Ryan completing a 3-yard TD pass to WR Roddy White. Defensive end  Jamaal Anderson paced a defense that fed off the crowd's energy. He finished with four tackles (two for loss) and the first sack of his two-year career. Anderson also had two pass deflections on the Bears' first drive of the second quarter.The Falcons offense started the second half with a no-huddle offense and added another Elam field goal to take a 12-3 lead. Chicago stuck with the running game and added a touchdown from Forte with 2:24 remaining in the third quarter. Chicago drove within inches of the end zone, but Matt Forte was stuffed on fourth down as he attempted to leap across the line. Michael Boley came in low to trip up the runner, then Lawyer Milloy and Keith Brooking finished him off.The Bears took the lead with Gould getting a 32-yard field goal, along with quarterback Kyle Orton completing a 17-yard TD pass to WR Rashied Davis.  Fortunately, the Falcons got the last laugh as Elam nailed the game-winning 48-yard field goal.The 16-year veteran's celebration was interrupted by a swarm of teammates near midfield. It was his fifth successful kick of the day but just moments before he missed a kick that could have iced the game. Chicago came off the miscue with a 77-yard touchdown drive to take a 20-19 lead with 11 seconds to play. But a 9-yard return off a short kickoff by Harry Douglas and a 26-yard strike from rookie quarterback Matt Ryan to Michael Jenkins set Elam up for the game-winner with 1 second left. "I'm really happy that one went through", Elam said. "Our guys have been fighting so hard for so long. I hate to even mention what happened last year but to hear some of the stories I know the guys are really hungry to get some wins on the board and show our fans what we're all about." With time to throw Ryan thrived. The rookie found five different receivers and performed regular Houdini-like acts to find open players down the field for third-down conversions. Fellow rookie Douglas caught five passes for 96 yards including a 47-yard strike on third down that set up a 3-yard scoring toss to White with 13:25 remaining.Ryan opened the game 8-of-8 for 107 yards and captained nearly identical scoring drives in the first quarter, leading the team on 48- and 49-yard marches that ended with field goals."I think everybody is excited with the win", Ryan said. "I thought we played a very good Chicago Bears team today. They played an entire 60 minutes and we did the same thing. We just had the last punch. We were able to make a couple big plays at the end of the game with Elam clutch kick being the biggest one. This win is a great story heading into the bye week."Bears CB Nathan Vasher (wrist) missed his second straight game, and the other starting corner, Charles Tillman, went out in the first half with a shoulder injury. Backup FS Danieal Manning left, too, with an injured hamstring., White went over 100 yards receiving for the second week in a row, Forte led the Bears with 76 yards rushing. Not only did Matt Ryan (22/30 for 301 yards and a touchdown) pick up his first-ever 300-yard day, but he acquired the best record for a rookie quarterback in his first six games as a starter since 1998 (4-2), besting Kyle Orton in '05 and Kyle Boller in '03 (both with 3-3).
How many yards was the longest field goal in the first half?
48