ATLANTA – After missing three games with a hamstring injury, quarterback Caleb Williams made a triumphant return Sunday in Atlanta, leading the Bears to a 31-23 win over the Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Williams engineered touchdown drives on the Bears' first two possessions, completing 10 of 10 passes for 122 yards and one TD in staking them to an early 14-0 lead they never relinquished. He finished the game connecting on 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards with one TD, no turnovers and a 111.2 passer rating.

The Bears led 31-7 early in the fourth quarter before the Falcons (2-4) rallied, coupling two touchdowns with two-point conversions in a 3:53 span to close to within one score at 31-23 with 5:41 remaining.

But cornerback Kyler Gordon — making his season debut — preserved the win with his third sack of the game of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and second strip-sack, resulting in a fumble that Devin Bush recovered at the Atlanta 28 with 2:54 to play.

The Bears' special teams unit also played a key role in the victory, generating two takeaways by recovering a muffed punt that swung the momentum in the first half and forcing and recovering a fumble on a second-half kickoff return.

The win improved the Bears' record to 4-2 and came one week after a 31-7 loss to the Packers in an NFC North showdown in Green Bay.

"I'm really proud of our guys and how they responded," said coach Ben Johnson. "I'm not surprised whatsoever. It's kind of been the history of those guys in that locker room. We get punched in the face, and they want to make sure that we get everything fixed, corrected and going.

"I thought our identity and play style showed up in all three phases: swarming on defense, finishing on offense, and then we had a couple new faces bounce back for us between Kyler on defense and Caleb on offense. They gave us big sparks."

Roschon Johnson led the Bears in rushing with 51 yards and one TD on 13 carries. D'Andre Swift added 44 yards and two TDs on 16 attempts. Luther Burden III led the team in receiving with eight catches for 95 yards. Colston Loveland added six receptions for 65 yards and one TD.

The Bears took a 7-0 lead on the game's opening possession courtesy of Williams' 14-yard touchdown pass to Loveland. Williams escaped pressure in the pocket, rolled to his right and threaded the needle between two defenders to Loveland, who hung on despite absorbing a big hit from safety Jesse Bates III.

"They did a good job, and I was able to get out and escape, and Colston and I locked eyes and I just gave my guy a shot," Williams said. "That's something I've been preaching all week to my guys: 'When I get back, I'm going to give you a shot with the ball in the air, and you've just got to go make [the catch]' — and I think the guys did a good job of that today."

Williams completed 6 of 6 passes for 64 yards on the opening drive, which was sustained by a brilliantly designed and perfectly executed hook-and-ladder play. On third-and-11 from the Atlanta 42, Williams threw a short pass to Rome Odunze, who lateraled to Roschon Johnson for a 12-yard gain and a first down.

After the Bears defense forced a three-and-out, the offense marched 59 yards on nine plays to extend the lead to 14-0 on Swift's 4-yard TD run on third-and-goal. Williams completed passes of 23 yards to Odunze and 25 yards to Burden on the drive.

At that point in the game, the Bears had outgained the Falcons 154-1 and Williams had completed 10 of 10 passes for 122 yards and one TD.

"The fact that we started fast really in all three phases was huge for us," Ben Johnson said. "It's something that we had also talked about the night before. If you could write a script, that's what we would want to do against a team like this is we've got to come out of the gate hot.

"That's a dangerous team. Their defense is darn good. Their offense can put up points in a hurry, as we saw at the end of the game. And I thought the way our guys came out and responded was huge."

The Bears defense then forced the Falcons to turn the ball over on downs. On third-and-4 from the Chicago 42, Gordon and Bush dropped running back Brian Robinson Jr. for a 1-yard loss. On fourth-and-5, James Lynch batted down a Penix pass.

The Bears were unable to extend their lead, however, as Cairo Santos missed a 56-yard field goal attempt wide left.

The Falcons responded as Penix connected with receiver Drake London for a 39-yard gain on the next play and then hit receiver Jahan Dotson with a 13-yard TD pass three plays later, cutting the deficit to 14-7 with 5:45 left in the first half.

Atlanta seemingly had the momentum on its side when it forced the Bears to punt. But Zachariah Branch muffed the punt after calling a fair catch, and Josh Blackwell recovered the loose ball at the Falcons' 10.

Three plays later, the Bears extended their lead to 21-7 on Swift's 2-yard run on third-and-goal with 1:26 remaining in the half.

The Bears defense stopped the Falcons twice on the opening possession of the third quarter. First, blitzing safety Dillon Thieneman's third-down sack of Penix forced a punt. But Jahdae Walker's roughing-the-punter penalty gave Atlanta a first down. Then on fourth-and-3 from the Chicago 28, Jaylon Johnson broke up a pass intended for London, turning the ball over on downs.

Roschon Johnson followed by powering into the end zone for a 4-yard TD, extending the Bears' lead to 28-7 with 1:48 left in the third quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Zavier Scott stripped the ball from Branch and Nick McCloud recovered the fumble at the Falcons' 31. The Bears converted the takeaway into points, widening the margin to 31-7 on Santos' 50-yard field goal.

With a seemingly safe lead and a short week ahead with a Thursday night home game against the Patriots, the Bears subbed out most of their No. defense. The unit was already playing without ends Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo, linebacker T.J. Edwards and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.

"You're trying to thread the needle a little bit," Johnson said. "If we didn't have the Thursday night game, I don't know that we'd do things like we did. So that's a part of the equation. I do believe if we didn't have that fumble on offense then maybe we would have gotten out of there the way that we wanted to. But things happen."

The Falcons drew to within 31-15 on Penix's 10-yard TD pass to tight end Kyle Pitts and two-point conversion pass to Branch with 9:34 to play. After Roschon Johnson lost a fumble, Atlanta made it 31-23 on Penix's 5-yard TD pass to Pitts and two-point conversion pass to London with 5:41 to play.

After the offense went three-and-out, the Falcons took over at their own 28 with 3:34 to play. On third-and-6, Penix connected with Branch for nine yards and an apparent first down. But a blitzing Gordon drew a holding penalty on Bijan Robinson, nullifying the play. Gordon blitzed again on the next snap, hitting Penix and causing a fumble that Bush recovered to seal the win.

Johnson presented game balls to Williams and Gordon in the locker room and to defensive tackle Grady Jackson, an Atlanta native who played his first 10 NFL seasons with the Falcons, on the plane.

Before being activated Saturday, Gordon had been on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list since before training camp started due to a calf injury.

"I talked with Kyler [Saturday] morning and said, 'Hey, I think we want to activate you, are you ready to go?'" Johnson said. "And he said, 'absolutely,' and he sure enough was. Huge spark for the defense. I thought DA (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) put him in some good spots. He's so twitchy. He's very hard to block as a blitzer. Tight in coverage also.

"We tried to limit his role a little bit, just making sure he was in good football shape, but those snaps that he had were huge ones for us today."