The Atlanta Falcons are heading into another game where they are absolutely desperate for a victory as things start to spiral a bit now three games below .500 and in last place in the NFC South.

Coming off another ugly loss last week, this time in the international game to the Cincinnati Bengals, pressure is mounting for this team to perform better than it has been and avoid dropping to 3-7 headed into the bye week. It's a major challenge though to make that happen with the Kansas City Chiefs on deck, and Atlanta will have to have its best game to have a shot at winning.

Here are three things that the Falcons absolutely must do in order to have a chance to win this game.

Even when things were bad, the Falcons over the first month or so of the season had one of the best run defenses in football, and opposing teams had a whole lot of trouble moving the ball on the ground against them. The last couple of games, that has certainly not been the case.

The Chiefs have become a run-first football team, and this game is going to be no different. If Atlanta does not buckle down, dig their feet in and make Kansas City win the game through the air, it has the potential to be a long day.

It's been a tough couple of weeks for Penix as of late, and even in ideal weather last weekend, he did not look comfortable at any point and wound up turning the ball over to officially put the nail in the coffin.

The Falcons need to get some confidence back in their quarterback, so setting him up with some easy hitters early and allowing him to settle in could prove to go a long way towards their chances of winning.

While this may sound simple, it clearly has been anything but that for Atlanta the last couple of games. This is not a Chiefs team that the Falcons can afford to give free possessions to, so they simply need to take better care of the football if they want any chance at winning this game.

That comes down to Penix as well as the whole offense to put the ball in the best positions possible, and if they can do that for 60 minutes, they will have a chance to win.