Atlanta Falcons should follow Panthers lead and sack head coach

The Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers are linked by I-85. The two teams are rivals, competing for the NFC South crown every year.

There have been few times when the Atlanta Falcons should follow the lead of the team up north, but now is one of them. Moving on from their head coach.

Adam Schefter delivered the news via Twitter in rather stoic fashion. A one-line tweet:

This is ironic considering just a day ago our compatriots at Cat Crave told us Rivera wasn’t worried about his job status.

Hmm, where have we heard those words echo before? Ah yes, inside the walls of Mercedes-Benz Stadium as the losses for this year continued to pile up. At Flowery Branch as weeks of good preparation failed to translate to wins.

From Atlanta Falcons head coach, Dan Quinn. In fact, these two, Quinn and Rivera, have more in common than you think. Defensive minded guys, who just a couple seasons removed from Super Bowl losses, couldn’t even secure a winning record.

Transcendent talent on the field at any given time, whether it’s Julio Jones or Luke Kuechly. But the Panthers took the necessary step to move on from their head coach when he stopped producing wins.

Why? Because their owner won’t settle for mediocrity. No matter who’s under center or what injuries look like. In Atlanta, it’s been a different story. There have been massive contracts handed out, player options picked up that shouldn’t have been, and a seeming unwillingness to bring in the established free agents.

The Panthers went after Eric Reid and Gerald McCoy, two guys who would have been instant contributors for the Falcons.

But here we are, with three wins in 12 tries, after getting just seven last year, and still, no change has been made at the helm.

The Panthers have laid out the path for their fellow NFC rival to take. Now, it’s up to the team’s brass to follow it and make a change at the head coach position.

Things don’t have to get worse before they get better, but it seems the Falcons are content with letting that happen.