ATLANTA — This was supposed to be the year. Of course, the last six years were supposed to be the year, too, but this was really supposed to be the year.
The Atlanta Falcons fired former head coach Arthur Smith last Jan. 8 with team president Rich McKay saying, “We felt like the change was necessary to make sure that we compete at the highest level.” Seventeen days later, the Falcons hired Raheem Morris. Six weeks after that, they signed the biggest free agent of the 2024 cycle, adding veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins. Then they added another quarterback and acquired two defensive Pro Bowlers via trade and free agency.
Atlanta was throwing everything it had at a six-year playoff drought, and it wasn’t shy about saying so.
“We’re very, very excited about where we are right now,” fourth-year general manager Terry Fontenot said in August as he prepared to preside over the league’s fourth-most expensive roster based on salary-cap spending. “It’s very easy to be optimistic when you look at this entire team. We all have high expectations because of what we see out there.”
Five months later, the view doesn’t look so good. The Falcons (8-9) were eliminated from playoff contention for the seventh consecutive season, matching their longest drought since 1983-1990. They fell 44-38 in overtime to Carolina on Sunday. Only the Jets (15 seasons) and Panthers (nine seasons) have a longer active streak of futility.
Walk-Off TD for the WIN!
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/7ivILQg9Vh
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) January 5, 2025
“I was really disappointed in our defense today,” Morris said. “We did not come out to play today on defense, and it showed. We couldn’t stop them. Really shocked. I was really fired up about the direction we were going, took a step back today, a huge step back. That’s something we have to review and find out why because those things can’t happen.”
There are plenty of things that will fall into that category after the Falcons lost six of their final eight games.
“It’s heartbreaking,” safety Justin Simmons said, “sickening to know we were there at one point, controlled everything and let it slip away.”
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Despite improvements in their pass rush, the Falcons gave up 26.7 points per game in their final eight games, 26th in the league in that span.
“Surprised is really the only thing I can say,” Simmons said. “We never played our best ball when we needed to. There would be times in the first half where we did great, second half we didn’t show up. We were always playing behind the eight ball. Against better teams, you’re not going to be able to sustain that throughout the year. It’s all raw and emotional right now, and it’s tough.”
The outcome of Sunday’s game ultimately didn’t matter because Tampa Bay (10-7) beat New Orleans 20-19, officially clinching the division as the Falcons and Panthers (5-12) were engaged in the overtime coin toss.
“Obviously, it sucks,” outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie said.
Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss takes a moment for himself after Sunday’s loss. (Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
Heading into Week 10, the Falcons were 6-3 and 4-0 in the division. They had a 93 percent chance to win the division and a 95 percent chance to make the playoffs at that point, according to The Athletic’s playoff projections.
“This is usually what happens if you get complacent in the middle a little bit and give teams an opportunity to catch up,” Ebiketie said.
Sunday evening was too soon to diagnose exactly how Atlanta managed to give its season away down the stretch, Morris said.
“Right now you can’t pinpoint the last eight and what happened,” he said. “We’ll find out those things as we go into the offseason.”
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The first order of offseason business for Morris will be determining if any staff changes will be made. None sounded imminent Sunday night — “I feel really good about the people in charge,” he said — but Morris said he would review that this week.
The next item on the agenda will be the future of Cousins, who started 14 games before being benched. The Falcons guaranteed him $90 million (plus another $10 million if he’s still on the roster on March 17) when they signed him, but he no longer figures into their starting quarterback plans.
“The light at the end of the tunnel for us in spite of how bad we played on defense or anywhere is the quarterback,” Morris said. “If you’re a fan and you look out there at Michael Penix, you have to be excited. When you have a young guy like that at quarterback, you’re cooking with gas. That’s what gets me fired up, in spite of how angry I am or pissed off right now, when you look at No. 9 he gives us the best chance to win football games moving forward.”
Penix passed for 312 yards and two touchdowns against the Panthers, while Drake London had a career-high 187 receiving yards on 10 catches and Bijan Robinson had a career-high 170 rushing yards on 28 carries. London and Robinson each had two touchdowns.
“You guys got a little taste of what it can possibly be, and I think we’re going to strive for that every game now,” London said. “In the offseason, we have to get after it and get right because we want to get to the postseason and start playing for something real.”
That was supposed to be what happened this year.
(Top photo of Raheem Morris: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
