Atlanta Falcons: 5 reasons for 5-game losing streak

The Atlanta Falcons have fallen back to .500 on their current 5-game losing streak. What are the five reasons behind the Atlanta Falcons’ downward spiral?

The magical 5-0 start to the 2015 NFL season for the Atlanta Falcons has all but vanished. The Dirty Birds have lost their last five games and six of their last seven to fall back to .500 at 6-6, to sit in third place in the NFC South. Atlanta’s most recent loss Sunday to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers not only cost them the tiebreaker against the Bucs, but it solidified the Carolina Panthers’ third straight division crown.

Atlanta has to go at least .500 in their final four games to even have an outside shot at making the NFC Playoffs at 8-8, hoping that the 7-5 Seattle Seahawks lose their final four games, which they won’t. Sunday’s loss doesn’t sit well as it began to bring to light that holding out hope for a resurgence into the NFC Playoffs is probably no longer possible for our Atlanta Falcons.

Will Atlanta finish with an identical 6-10 record in 2015 like they did last year? I’d hope not because that would mean the Atlanta Falcons would end their season on a nine-game skid. However, with the team’s recent inability to win close games, this could very well happen.

The amount of finger-pointing at what ails the 2015 Atlanta Falcons is rapidly increasing, but even the most attentive fans have difficulty discerning what is causing the club’s underwhelming play of late. This exercise isn’t about singling out any person in particular, but to have a better understanding of what the team’s faults are and how others have exploited them for the last month and a half. Here are five reasons for the Atlanta Falcons’ five-game losing streak.

Next: 1. Lack of Pass Rush