FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will start Sunday against the visiting Chicago Bears despite a rib injury, as long as there are no setbacks during the week, coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday.
Penix said he made every throw in practice Wednesday and took all the first-team reps. He was listed by the Falcons as a full participant in practice.
In Sunday night's home 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." Penix also didn't want to get into the specifics of the imaging done, just that it was positive news.
"They're good," he said of his ribs. "They get better every day. I felt good today at practice and I know I'm going to continue to feel good. I just got to stay on top of my rehab and just make sure I'm doing all the right things."
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 ACL surgery on his left knee 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.