Falcons fans need to decide: Is it time to rise up or give up?

After much anticipation leading up to week 1 of the regular season, the Atlanta Falcons gave us very little to be excited for, after the loss to the Minnesota Vikings 12-28, in Minnesota.

As a little time has passed, some of Atlanta Falcons fans have given up already and are in tank mode wanting the Falcons to tank for TUA. Some optimistic and less dramatic fans are looking for reasons to not panic, yet.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at how Dan Quinn and the Falcons have done in week one in prior years and see if it was a blue print for how the rest of that particular season was, or if it was just a bump in a road.

Remember, the Falcons have never started 0-2 under Matt Ryan.

2018:  Atlanta Falcons lose 18-12 in Philly

SOUND THE ALARMS. TWELVE POINTS IS ALL ATLANTA SCORED LAST SEASON AND WE ALL KNOW HOW THAT PANNED OUT. END THE ARTICLE NOW, PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY.

Calm down. Let’s remember what happened in week 1. Let’s not even look at the stats of this game.

The field conditions were horrid. This was the game that basically ended Keanu Neal and Devonta Freeman‘s season, and sidelined Deion Jones for multiple games. The Falcons finished 7-9 with those injuries – while losing Ricardo Allen for the season not long after that.

The loss yesterday was bad, but we’ve seen worse, and recovered and I would imagine the season would have ended differently with those guys.

2017: Atlanta Falcons win 23-17 in Chicago

The score was pretty at the end, but the game, not so much. The Falcons played sloppy and the Bears were not the Bears that we saw last season. This game was the Tarik Cohen coming out party and he made the defense look silly at times, meanwhile the Falcons rushed for just 64 yards.

This game ended up causing a lot of Falcons fans to bite their nails and drink at the very end because the Mike Glennon lead Bears were on the Falcons five yard line with just five seconds left and a Brooks Reed sack ended up sealing the game.

The Falcons ended up making the playoffs and advancing past the Rams, before losing to the Eagles. That being said, a lot of people were not very thrilled by this week one game either.

2016: Atlanta Falcons lose 31-24 to the Bucs

Now this game had the entire fan base in shambles.

Fire Shanahan, fire Quinn, trade Ryan.

Letting the bottom feeding Tampa Bay Buccaneers not only beat us, but come into the Georgia dome in it’s very last season and embarrass us…it was beyond disappointing.

Atlanta rushed for just over 50 yards this game, and while Matt Ryan threw for two touchdowns, Jameis Winston threw for four touchdowns and the entire season looked to be wasted at the end of week one. The Falcons ended up finishing 11-5, Matt Ryan won the MVP and the Falcons offense was one of the most historical offenses of all time and the very young defense had two defensive rookie of the year candidates in Keanu Neal and Deion Jones.

We all know how the season ended, of course – but many forget that it began bad and no one even saw us in the position to even make the playoffs, let alone make the Super Bowl.

2015: Atlanta Falcons beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21

This game was Julio Jones being JULIO he recorded more than 140 yards and two touchdowns. The game was far from perfect though, as the score indicates. Matt Ryan was picked off twice, and if it wasn’t for Sam Bradford being Sam Bradford, the game probably finishes another way as he was picked off by Ricardo Allen on the Eagles last offensive position at the end of the game with a chance to tie or take the lead.

This was Dan Quinn’s first game as head coach and the Falcons started 5-0 and we were sipping margaritas. And then the Falcons finished 8-8 and we wanted everyone fired.

Dan Quinn would appreciate this Dan Quinn-esque cliche: Finish. That is what it is all about. Week 1 has been a week that the Falcons are no stranger to struggling in, and some seasons they finished a lot better than that week one would indicate.

It is time to Rise Up. If you answered “give up” you were never a fan anyway.