ATLANTA FALCONS
 

The Falcons emerged as an expansion team to the NFL in 1966, the year that the NFL and the AFL merged and the start of the Super Bowl Era. The name “Falcons” was picked out of a city-wide contest to decide the name for Atlanta’s first professional football team. The local school teacher that won this contest reasoned that a Falcon was a proud and dignified bird, one that never lost courage or dropped its prey. Despite this moniker that represents so much about the teams’ dignity and unwillingness to accept defeat, all anyone can remember about the Falcons is how they gave up a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI. This season has come to define the Falcons. After going 11-5 in the regular season and Matt Ryan and Julio Jones having career years, the Falcons breezed through the Divisional game, NFC Championship game, and half of Super Bowl LI. The rest is history. Their only other Super Bowl appearance came in 1999 when the team lost to a clearly superior John Elway-led Denver Broncos (34-19). The Falcons have been an underperforming franchise since their inception. Sporting an all-time win percentage of 36% (with a playoff record of 10-14), fans have not had much to hang their hats on. The traits that their team's name suggests have not shown through in the franchise’s 59 years of existence. After dropping that 25-point lead to Tom Brady, the Falcons are still reeling, desperate to regain some dignity and sense of self-worth.

 

Since the loss in Super Bowl 51, the Falcons have had three different head coaches. Dan Quinn (who led the team to their Super Bowl appearance in the 2016 season) was fired in 2020 after leading the team to a 0-5 record to start the season. The defense that Quinn was known for turned soft and ineffective, and ownership acknowledged that the team had lost its competitive edge. To combat this, Arthur Smith was hired in the ‘21 offseason. He was brought in to usher in a new competitiveness by way of a new style of offense. He was supposed to be the one to bring the Falcons back to their Super Bowl stature. Despite all of the hope surrounding Smith, and the acquisition of talented offensive players via the draft, his tenure with the Falcons was defined by his team’s inability to establish any kind of momentum. In each of his three years as the Falcons ' head coach, the team went 7-10 with no playoff appearances. Part of this failure can be attributed to uncertainty at the QB position, as guys like Desmond Ridder, Marcus Mariota, and Taylor Heineke were all given the starting role at some point. Even with sub-par quarterback talent, there was no excuse for the team's consistently disappointing seasons. The team was weak, and Smith needed to go. In the 2024 offseason, Raheem Morris was hired to be the Atlanta Falcons’ 19th head coach. He had previously served as the interim Head Coach when Smith was fired in 2020. Morris’s first season as Falcon’s Head Coach was a step in the right direction for the Franchise. Although the team went 8-9, their offensive production jumped significantly from 2023. Even with controversy at the QB position, the team finished in second place in the NFC South. With Michael Penix Jr. penciled in as QB1 for the following year, the Falcons appeared to be trending upward. Penix Jr. ended the season showing some of what he brings to the table and leaving fans and coaches excited about his potential. In order for the Falcons to reach that coveted spot high on the mountaintop and hoist the Lombardi trophy, they first need to get their swagger back and develop a little pep in their step. Giving up the 28-3 lead was tough. Undeniably, it hurt the team and the fans. It’s time for the Falcons to fully flush that memory down the metaphorical toilet. With the HC/QB duo of Morris and Penix Jr. leading the team along with a young core of RBs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgier and WRs Drake London and Darnell Mooney, the Falcons are starting to gain some confidence back. If the Atlanta squad can start producing results their confidence should only grow, which in turn should generate more results and so on. If Atlanta is able to balance this confidence with reasonable expectations, they have a very real chance of contending for a Super Bowl within the foreseeable future.

 

https://www.profootballhof.com/teams/atlanta-falcons/team-history/