Falcons feeling the heat after worst-case scenario bye week

The Atlanta Falcons had to feel helpless on Sunday as they sat on their couch watching their division lead take another hit.

A week after allowing the Buccaneers to creep one game closer, the Falcons had to watch the Bucs extend that to a game over the consecutive NFC South bye weeks. Suddenly, the first-place Falcons are worried about giving away the division lead before we hit Week 15.

Falcons have to be worried about their shrinking division lead over Buccaneers

The Falcons went into their Week 11 game with a two-game lead, plus the tiebreaker, over the Buccaneers who were on their bye. However, Atlanta laid an egg in Denver spotting Tampa Bay an extra game in the standings.

To make matters even worse, the Falcons were going into their bye while the Buccaneers had two weeks to prepare for the 2-8 New York Giants.

Predictably, the Bucs walked over the Giants beating them 30-7.

The NFC South now looks like this:

1. Falcons: 6-5
2. Buccaneers: 5-6
3. Saints: 4-7
4. Panthers: 3-8

Atlanta still has a game in the standings with a tiebreaker thanks to their sweep of Tampa. This means even with a loss and a Bucs win next week, the Falcons still control their own destiny.

The bad news is Raheem Morris' team has looked horrendous in its past two games, and two tough games are approaching. They host the Chargers and travel to play the Vikings, two teams with a combined 16-5 record (pending LA's MNF game).

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers play the Panthers and Raiders and only play one team with a winning record the rest of the way—the Chargers.

Things could change quickly in the NFC South over the final six games. Despite having essentially a three-game lead a week ago, the Falcons have to hold on for dear life to keep their spot atop the standings.