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The 5 moves that caused the downfall of the Atlanta Falcons

By Matt Siegman

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 14: Head Coach Dan Quinn and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff of the Atlanta Falcons head off the field after the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at the Georgia Dome on September 14, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 14: Head Coach Dan Quinn and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff of the Atlanta Falcons head off the field after the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at the Georgia Dome on September 14, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Inability to evaluate offensive coordinator

The next move that caused the downfall of the Atlanta Falcons was the front office’s inability to evaluate the offensive coordinator.

Kyle Shanahan was a fantastic offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons and perhaps the best in franchise history. Replacing him was going to be a difficult task but the Atlanta Falcons still needed to find someone to take control of the number one offense in 2016.

They decided to hire Steve Sarkisian from Alabama who was a bad offensive coordinator in 2017 but was much better in 2018. Nowadays he is doing fantastic at Alabama and is on the shortlist for many schools who are looking for a new head coach.

The mistake the Atlanta Falcons made was not promoting quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur to offensive coordinator in 2017. After Shanahan left LaFleur went to the Rams and helped Sean McVay call plays for them. He then became the Titans offensive coordinator in 2018 and became the Green Bay Packers head coach in 2019.

In his first season, LaFleur led the Packers to a 13-3 record with an NFC Championship game appearance and currently has a 9-3 record this season.

One of the biggest reasons why the Atlanta Falcons did not make LaFleur the offensive coordinator is that they thought he was not ready to be an offensive coordinator. The Atlanta Falcons were wrong in a major way.

Instead, they had to settle for Steve Sarkisian, and then in 2018 when Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff were the problems, they made Sarkisian the scapegoat and fired Dirk Koetter.

Dirk Koetter is train-wreck level bad as an offensive coordinator. His scheme is outdated and predictable for NFL defenses. The past two seasons have been rough for Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and they wasted the past two seasons with Koetter.

Koetter underperformed during the 2012-2014 seasons and it was a big mystery why the Atlanta Falcons brought him back after failing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Atlanta Falcons offense would have produced better results if Steve Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020.

The inability to evaluate the offensive coordinator is perhaps the main cause of the Atlanta Falcons’ downfall.

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