Crazy as it sounds, the Atlanta Falcons weren’t far off from playoffs

Crazy as it sounds, the Atlanta Falcons weren’t far off from playoffs

The 2020 season will go down as one that most Atlanta Falcons fans will want to forget.

The Falcons are currently 4-11 with one game remaining and the only good thing that could come out of the season at this point is them losing their final matchup and potentially locking up that No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft- four months from now.

While no one likes to deal with ‘would’ve, could’ve and should’ve,’ that’s exactly what this franchise has become the real life embodiment of, and at some point it has to stop.

The Atlanta Falcons were nowhere near as bad as the record indicates

Here’s a running tally of the one-possession games played by the Atlanta Falcons this season:

• @ Dallas Cowboys (40-39 loss)
• vs. Chicago Bears (30-26 loss)
• vs. Carolina Panthers (23-16 loss)
• vs. Detroit Lions (23-22 loss)
• vs. Denver Broncos (34-27 win)
• vs. New Orleans Saints (21-16 loss)
• @ Los Angeles Chargers (20-17 loss)
• vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (31-27 loss)

No team in the league lost more one possession games this season than the Falcons. Can you imagine playing eight one-possession games and going 1-7? Well, you can if you’re a Falcons fan.

If you add the margin all seven of those losses together, you get a total of 25 points.

What am I saying? I’m saying that less than four touchdowns separated the Falcons from being a 4-11 team (which they are) and being an 11-5 team. Even if you just go 50/50 in those games, you’re talking about an 8-7 type of record heading into this final week with the potential to still make the playoffs as a wildcard.

Less than four touchdowns. That’s how far the Falcons were from potentially being a postseason team.

This team is frustrating. They’ve been disappointing, upsetting, abysmal, unbearable and vomit-inducing on plenty of occasions this season, but there’s one thing that’s for certain: This is not your normal 4-11 team.

This is not your normal franchise picking inside the top-five. There is talent and there are pieces to compete and to do so in the very near future, but it all starts with making the right decisions at the top of the chain and then- and only then- the trickle down effect will happen.