Atlanta Falcons: Thank you, Dan Quinn

Most Atlanta Falcons fans are happy that Dan Quinn is gone, but we should say thank you the man who helped lead the team back to the Super Bowl.

There’s no question that Dan Quinn was the poster child for blown leads as the Atlanta Falcons head coach. Everyone knows this. No lead was safe, no matter who the Atlanta Falcons were playing. Late game collapses are now what this organization is known for. With that being said, it wasn’t all bad under Quinn’s six-year tenure.

After an 8-8 first season that saw the team start 5-0, and then finish 3-8, Quinn led the team to their second-ever Super Bowl appearance in his second season. We all know how that game went, so I won’t waste your time rehashing it.

The Atlanta Falcons had a very successful next season, ultimately falling short against the eventual Super Bowl Champion Eagles. Since then, the team has struggled to stop anybody on defense, and the offense has been inconsistent.

It was always hard to guess which Atlanta Falcons team would show up that given day. The team would have terrible losses, and then great wins. It didn’t make any sense. For half the season, the team would look pathetic, and then the other half, the team would look like one of the best in football. This has been a problem since the end of the 2017 season and that is why Quinn is now gone.

It became apparent this season that Quinn was losing the team and his message was no longer getting through, whether the players wanted to admit it or not. The guys look lifeless and continued to make boneheaded plays and mistakes left and right, signaling that it was time for a change.

I am glad he is gone and I think it was the right move. But that doesn’t mean I am not grateful for what the team was able to accomplish in 2016 and 2017.

We shouldn’t just look at the negatives

Quinn is only the second coach in Atlanta Falcons history to take the team to a Super Bowl. We should be grateful for him because he finally brought some postseason success to this team, even if they didn’t quite go all the way. Winning playoff games was a foreign concept to the Atlanta Falcons, but Quinn led the team to three of them in a two-year span.

Through the good times and bad times over the last six years, Quinn was loved by the team. He seems like a very kind and caring individual who wanted nothing but the best for the team and the city of Atlanta, and for that, we should also thank him. You can talk about his win-loss record or late-game collapses, but you should not attack his character.

With all of that being said, I say thank you to Dan Quinn for taking the Atlanta Falcons to the big game and bringing at least a little bit of playoff success. I wish you good luck wherever you end up.