Atlanta Falcons Are Officially Eliminated, Now the What-Ifs Begin

An extremely disappointing season was capped off Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Though the Atlanta Falcons dominated the Arizona Cardinals 40-14 Sunday afternoon, the Falcons were officially eliminated from Playoff Contention by virtue of the Vikings win against the Dolphins.

The season started with high hopes. The Atlanta Falcons were coming into the season with one of the most talented rosters in football and were trying to become the first team ever to play a Super Bowl in the host city.

After a 1-4 start, the Falcons were starting to surge. They were winners of three in a row, Offense averaged over 30 points a game in that stretch and an awful defense was starting to play adequate  football.

Then the Browns game happened. The Falcons were bullied by the Browns. It was a game so bad that linebacker De’Vondre Campbell honestly admitted that the Falcons did not take the Browns seriously.

Then there was he Cowboys game. What was a must win game for Dan Quinn’s team, ended how two early season games against the Saints and Bengals ended at home, a last second loss.

What followed was what seemed evident by the Falcons performance, they were outplayed, out-coached and flat-out seemed like they quit in some games.

17-31 loss to the Saints.

16-26 loss to the Ravens.

20-34 loss to the Packers.

These Falcons were inconsistent. They started off poor. They looked like they were gearing up for a run. Then, they watched their season slip right out of their hands with a 5 game losing streak.

The big disappointment in all of this, is that the Falcons missed an opportunity to take advantage of a mediocre Wild Card group in the NFC fighting for that last playoff spot.

What if the Falcons finished the deal against the Saints, Bengals and Cowboys?

We won’t know until the last game of the year. However, it’s the difference right now from them being eliminated in the 3rd to last game of the season, rather than fighting for their playoff lives.