The Atlanta Falcons dropped their second straight game on Sunday morning, falling 34-17 to the Cincinnati Bengals in a day that was simply not a strong performance on either side of the ball.

Defensively, Joe Burrow had his way with the Falcons defense, completing 24 of his 29 attempts for 271 yards and three touchdowns on a day in Spain where it just did not seem like there was any answer Atlanta had for the Cincinnati passing attack. Ja'Marr Chase absolutely brutalized the secondary with 10 receptions for 155 yards and a long score, and the Bengals also rushed for 123 yards as a team.

The effort on offense was not a whole lot better from the Falcons on a day where Michael Penix Jr. struggled again, and while he was certainly not the only issue, Penix did not prove to be the solution either. He completed 20 of his 31 attempts for 162 yards with a touchdown and an interception and struggled once again versus the blitz. Against pressure, he was just 1 of 9 for -3 yards and an interception, which brings him to a  a league-low 18% completion when pressured on the season according to ESPN research.

A three-score loss never ends on the shoulders of just one player, but unfortunately, Atlanta looks to have some significant issues on both sides of the ball. While there have been flashes during year one of the Kevin Stefanski era, ultimately the product has just been not good enough.

Now sitting at 3-6 and three games below .500 as well as at the bottom of the NFC South, things do not exactly get easier from here the rest of the way.

Next week, Atlanta will host the Kansas City Chiefs before mercifully arriving at the bye week, and all of the sudden, this is about as close to a must-win as you can get in the middle of November.

Dropping to 3-7 would be nothing short of disastrous, however the 6-2 Chiefs are not going to be an easy task. Kansas City is running the ball at an elite level and looks once again like one of the best teams in football with still a stingy defense as well.

Big improvements will have to be made from the last couple of weeks on both sides of the ball, but the Falcons are returning to the United States with another defeat.