I’m sorry, but this isn’t working. The Falcons are 2-4. If not for an impassioned overtime victory against New Orleans, they’d be 1-5. Only once this season have they been the demonstrably better team, and the exception came against exceptional-in-its-wretchedness Tampa Bay. On Sunday they were overwhelmed — that’s the proper verb — at home by another team that entered 2-3.
The Bears, however, have many good players. The Falcons have one or two. They couldn’t cover Chicago’s receivers or block its pass rushers. They couldn’t catch the ball. (Seven drops!) Their only touchdown came on the weekly catch-and-scoot by Antone Smith, who had five other touches. They were lucky to be within 10 at halftime, and after tying the game at 13 they surrendered the winning points 73 seconds later.
Midway through the fourth quarter came the ultimate indignity: With his team trailing by two touchdowns, Matt Ryan was forced to call timeout — because the legions of jubilant Bears fans in the Dome were making too much noise.
To have seen this awful performance made us doubt our memories: Could the Falcons really have played an NFC championship game in this same Georgia Dome 21 months ago? Since falling 10 yards short of the Super Bowl, the Falcons are 6-16. Has a good team ever fallen so far so fast? Can we even think of the Falcons as a good team anymore?
The Bears gained 478 yards Sunday. It marked the fourth time in six games an opponent has gone for 472 yards or more. Asked afterward if/when he might step in and enact changes, coach Mike Smith — once a respected defensive coordinator — said: “I don’t think anything is off the table. These are the guys we have on our football team. We have to coach them better. They have to play better.”
Trouble is, what’s on the Falcons’ table? A capable quarterback, but Ryan hasn’t been himself in four of the past five games, which can happen when a capable quarterback gets hit. A gifted receiver in Jones, who disappeared in the second half last week and who caught only four passes (and dropped two) Sunday. That’s about it.
The offensive line? Thinned by injury and still lousy. The defense? Worse than lousy. The record? Unacceptable for a team in its seventh season under this administration. The Bears haven’t made the playoffs since 2010 and changed coaches only two seasons ago, but they offered a sobering A/B comparison: They have big receivers and tough runners and defenders who can rush the passer and cover receivers. In sum, they have a real team.
Owner Arthur Blank declined comment Sunday, but what’s he going to say? There’s no percentage in firing people after six games; Jon Gruden’s not going to swoop into Flowery Branch and run practice Wednesday. For five seasons, Blank was given tangible reason to believe that Smith and general manager Thomas Dimitroff were indeed the men to win him a Super Bowl ring. But the team peaked in 2012, and everything since has been diminishing returns.
Last year the Falcons had an excuse: They were injured. This team has sustained losses, but the absences of Sean Weatherspoon and William Moore and Lamar Holmes shouldn’t have wrecked a team with a strong foundation. Alas, the House of Blank stands revealed as a house of cards. There’s Ryan and Jones and occasionally Antone Smith … and then there’s nothing.
Mike Smith insisted his team was talented enough to win. When asked why it wasn’t winning, he said: “That’s a very valid question. When you don’t convert on third down, not going to be able to sustain drives. When you give up explosive plays … that’s not going to get it done.”
There’s a difference between having players and having playmakers. Playmakers convert on third down. Playmakers make stops on third down. It has taken opponents only six games to solve the Falcons: Stop Jones and you essentially stop Ryan, and if you stop Ryan, the Falcons aren’t really a team.
I’m sorry. This isn’t working. It worked for five seasons, but those now seem a distant light. In the gloom of the here and now, it’s hard to imagine this ever working again.
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