The Atlanta Falcons came as close as any team has ever come to winning a Super Bowl without winning a Super Bowl in January of 2017. Atlanta blew that 28-3 lead, and nothing has ever been the same since.
The Falcons went 10-6 and made the playoffs in 2017, 7-9 last year, and now sit at 1-7 heading into an off week here in 2019.
On Monday, Peter King confirmed what everyone following the situation already knows: It's only a matter of when, not if, the Falcons move on from head coach Dan Quinn.
"I keep hearing that (Falcons owner) Arthur Blank might be in the mood to blow it all up, the entire organization," King said on the Dan Patrick show. "They're in salary cap hell next year and they're going to have a bad team. I can't tell you whether (Quinn) will survive the year, but whether he does or not (Blank) is going to make a coaching change at the end of this year at the very latest."
โWeโll take the next couple of weeks during this bye period and evaluate where we are, and whatever decision we make, it will be for the right reasons and long term,โ Blank himself said Sunday. โIโm not bashful about making those decisions.โ
Unlike the situation in Cleveland, the climb actually gets steeper from here for Atlanta. Four of the Falcons' next five games are against the 7-1 Saints or the 4-3 Panthers, then they get the 7-0 San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 15, meaning Atlanta could conceivably be 2-12 before closing with the Jaguars and Bucs.
Whether the official word comes down Oct. 30 or Dec. 30, it would be a major upset if Quinn is the Atlanta Falcons head coach in 2020.
Quinn was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks' Super Bowl teams in 2013-14 before going 29-19 in his first three seasons as a head coach. Coaches with bona fides like that typically don't last long on the open market.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.