3. Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith deserves immense credit for what he continues to accomplish with what is objectively a bad roster. He has a defense that can rarely get stops on third and long, a quarterback he cannot trust, and still clearly lacking a player who can rush the quarterback consistently, and yet the Falcons are 4-5 and have been in a position to win nearly every game this season.
Outside of the loss to the Bengals, it is hard to point to one single game the Falcons didn’t have a chance to win. A Koo miss and continued struggles from Mariota hurt the Falcons in this game, however, they were still in a position to win and could have easily come away with the victory if not for a missed deep ball to Kyle Pitts and a fumble recovery that was subsequently fumbled back to the Chargers to set up the game-winning field goal.
Arthur Smith is more than doing his job this season and despite the loss continues to prove he is the right coach to change the Falcons.