The Falcons are at a crossroads, a very complex one.
Do they build a statue for the winningest coach in franchise history or give him a pink slip after two injury-marred losing seasons?
The man with the answer, Falcons owner Arthur Blank, declined to comment on the status of coach Mike Smith through a team spokesman. He recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he would speak once the season was completed waiting to see how things play out.
He’ll know a lot more after Sunday. The Falcons (6-9) are set to face the Carolina Panthers (6-8-1) with the winner claiming the NFC South title and advancing to the playoffs.
There is speculation that Smith will be terminated if the Falcons fail to make the playoffs for the second consecutive season, or that he may even need a deep run to the NFC Championship game to save his job.
“I’m going to prepare just like I’ve done for the seven years that I’ve been here,” Smith said last week. “My focus is on winning football games and winning the next football game. I’m going to continue to do that until Arthur Blank tells me differently.”
If the Falcons defeat the Panthers, Smith will have taken the team to the playoffs five times of seven seasons. The peak was reaching the NFC Championship game after the 2012 season.
The Falcons’ hopes died that day on the 49ers’ 10-yard line after a Matt Ryan pass on fourth-and-4 for Roddy White was incomplete. The 49ers rallied from a 17-0 deficit to win 28-24 at the Georgia Dome and advance to the Super Bowl.
It has been downhill ever since for Smith and the Falcons.
After coaxing future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez out of retirement, the Falcons were expected to be Super Bowl contenders in 2013. But a rash of injuries and perceived lack of toughness greased the slide for a 4-12 skid.
Blank felt the season, which saw several key players land on injured reserve, was an aberration. General manager Thomas Dimitroff said the plan for 2014 was to “rectify with a vengeance”.
The season started off with rousing victories against New Orleans and Tampa Bay sandwiched around a loss to Cincinnati. A Sept. 28 game in Minnesota is when things started to unravel with more injuries that sent the team on a five-game losing streak.
The team blew a 21-point lead to Detroit on Oct 26 in London as the Falcons left too much time on the clock for the Lions to score. That prompted the last comment from Blank that he was not happy.
“You’re up 21-0,” Blank told AJC columnist Mark Bradley that day, “There’s no way you lose that game — just no way. There’s nothing else I can say.”
Upon returning from England with a 2-6 mark heading into the bye week, Smith held meetings with his staff and players. They found some common ground and committed to playing and coaching better.
And it showed. the Falcons ripped off two wins over Tampa Bay and Carolina but they inexplicably blew a late lead against Cleveland. A day after the 26-24 loss, Smith admitted to mismanaging the clock.
From then on, the team began playing better, posting a Nov. 13 victory against Arizona, which had the best record in the league at the time. There followed close losses to Green Bay and Pittsburgh before dismantling New Orleans 30-14 last week in the Superdome.
“Kudos to Coach Smith,” said Carolina coach Ron Rivera, who has had a similarly tough season. “He’s fought through a lot of adversity. My hat is off to him. Coach has done a great job.”
In his first two seasons, Smith became the first coach in franchise history to guide the Falcons to back-to-back winning seasons, going 11-5 in 2008 and 9-7 in 2009.
Smith and his staff did the unthinkable in his first year by taking the Falcons to the playoffs with a rookie starting quarterback in Matt Ryan.
Since then, the Falcons have won two NFC South titles and been to the playoffs twice as a wild-card team. His regular season record is 66-39 (.628), but he is 1-4 (.200) in the playoffs.
Smith, understandably, has plenty of support in the locker room.
“He’s awesome,” Ryan said. “I think he’s done a great job here. Day-in, day-out, he’s consistent with the guys. You know where you stand with him, which is a great quality as a coach. In this locker room, guys have a ton of respect for that.”
Despite the injuries, Smith knows that the NFL is a results-oriented business.
“We’re judged strictly by wins and losses,” Smith said. “That’s what coaches are judged by. Really, that’s what players are judged by as well.”
Since their last NFC Championship game appearance, the Falcons are 10-21 and appear to have major holes in their roster.
“Every time we go out there, we know what we’re up against and how we’re going to be evaluated,” Smith said. “It hurts, but you’ve got to take each game as a learning experience. We’ve learned from those losses.”
Smith has also become realistic about his fate.
“When you don’t win, it’s not fun,” Smith said. “It’s not fun for the players, it’s not fun for the coaches and it’s not fun for our fans. It’s something that we don’t like to do.
“We don’t like to lose and our guys understand the importance of it. Ultimately, there’s one guy that’s held responsible for it and that’s the head coach.”
