Despite administering a 40-14 spanking to the lowly Cardinals, the Falcons were smacked with a heavy dose of reality Sunday.
A Vikings win officially eliminated the Falcons from the playoffs and muted the celebration for ending their five-game losing streak.
It also made the Falcons the first 2017 NFC playoff team eliminated from the 2018 postseason as they joined the group of repeat non-playoff teams in Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Detroit, San Francisco and Arizona.
“I’ve known that was sure a long shot, so it wasn’t anything over the last two weeks that we’ve had (to deal with),” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said on Monday. “In fact last week we said this is what we are staring at, knowing that we missed on more tests than we’d passed. We had to deal with the reality of it.”
After the game, quarterback Matt Ryan expressed his disappointment in not advancing to the postseason. Ryan has guided the Falcons to the playoffs six times, including two NFC title games and one Super Bowl.
The Falcons were 8-8 in Quinn’s first season in 2015 when they weathered a six-game losing streak after starting 6-1.
In 2016, they finished 11-5 and went to Super Bowl XLI. Last season, the Falcons went 10-6 and advanced to the divisional round before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles.
No matter what happens over the final two games, this will be the worst season of the Quinn era.
The Falcons had already started to put their collective arms around not making the playoffs.
“But it wasn’t anything that we brought up as a team,” Quinn said. “We were all pretty realistic in that would have been a long shot at best.”
Mired in the five-game losing streak, the Falcons were focused on putting a decent effort together against the Cardinals.
“More of what we wanted to do, was (improve) the style, the process and the attitude,” Quinn said.
After a slow start, Quinn liked the way the team played against the Cardinals. Out of the playoff picture, some teams might have mailed in their effort.
“I think it speaks a lot about the locker room,” Quinn said. “About the type of guys that we have and their resiliency to come back and fight. That’s important to show and that certainly showed up in a big way.”
This will go down as one of the most disappointing seasons in Falcons’ history.
The Falcons were a fashionable pick to reach Super Bowl LIII, which will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Feb. 3, but injuries, penalties and poor play contributed to the nine losses.
If the Falcons can close out with two more victories they reach a 7-9 mark.
The 1981 Falcons, under Leeman Bennett, stumbled to a 7-9 mark. Expectations were high after the 1980 team went 12-4, before collapsing late against the Cowboys in the divisional playoffs.
The 2013 Falcons, under Mike Smith, coaxed tight end Tony Gonazlez out of retirement for what was to be a Super Bowl run. They went 4-12 just a season after losing to Colin Kaepernick at the 49ers in the NFC championship game after a 13-3 regular season.
This campaign will go down in Falcons annals right next to those 2013 and 1981 campaigns.
The Falcons want to win-out against the Panthers and Buccaneers.
“Oh, heck yeah,” cornerback Robert Alford said. “That’s all of us in here. We’re with the coaching staff, it’s not over until the last game. Like I said before, this team has a lot of heart, we got a lot of grind and a lot of people who compete. So, it’s never over for us, no matter what the record is.”
Now, they can officially start looking to the future.
“Just keep growing, keep trying to get better; every game matters because we have a lot of pride,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “We just keep fighting on to the next one.”
The Panthers are still on the fringes of the playoff race and need a victory. The Bucs are playing out the string, but normally go hard against the Falcons.
The Falcons beat the Panthers 31-24 on Sept. 16 at Mercedes-Benz. The Falcons also held on to beat the Buccaneers 34-29 on Oct. 14 at home. The Bucs nearly pulled out the game with a rugby-style scramble play.
“It is important to make sure that the style and attitude that you want to play with is loud and clear,” Quinn said. “The turnover margin took a big step forward and I want to continue that progress.”
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