Are Atlanta Falcons disrespected in recent Super Bowl rankings?

Bleacher Report recently took the time to rank every team's chances of winning their first Super Bowl. Of the 12 teams in the league who are yet to hoist a Lombardi the Falcons were ranked 8th. While this may seem low it is a mostly fair reading of a team with no pass rush and clear secondary concerns.

Teams ranked behind the Falcons are the Cardinals, Vikings, Panthers, and Titans. Barring a historic turnaround all of these teams are not only out of the Super Bowl conversation but far away from being considered playoff threats. The Cardinals are the only potentially interesting team in the group.

Kyler Murray returning to form and taking a step forward in production could make them a potentially relevant team for the third wildcard spot. While they aren't going to be in the conversation seriously the franchise has a chance to be interesting late into the season.

Putting Cleveland ahead of Atlanta ignores what the Falcons have accomplished this offseason

This brings us to the list of teams that were ranked ahead of Atlanta when it comes to chances of winning a Super Bowl. The Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, and Cleveland Browns all rank ahead of Atlanta.

Any reasonable Atlanta fan realizes the first five teams on the list are far better equipped to make a Super Bowl run. The Chargers is where a real conversation can begin. Yes, they have an exciting young core but in a division with Patrick Mahomes what is your real ceiling?

The ascendence of Justin Herbert and the addition of Jim Harbaugh are enough to make a convincing argument, however. The only truly frustrating part of this ranking is having the Browns ahead of the Falcons.

Let's start with Atlanta making moves all offseason attempting to get better while the Browns have done very little. Cleveland lost their starting quarterback who was pivotal in leading them to the playoffs. Deshaun Watson's return is a negative for this team, this is driven home by the fact he was outplayed by an ancient Joe Flacco.

Neither the Browns nor the Falcons are reasonably winning the Super Bowl this year. However, which seems more feasible Watson and the Browns making it past some combination of Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Burrow, Stroud, Rodgers, and Lawrence, or Cousins leading Atlanta past Purdy, Love, Hurts, or Goff?

The NFC is a far weaker conference and that should have been factored into these rankings. The Browns and Falcons are both cursed franchises but only one plays in the weaker conference. Not only that but the Browns are not even the second favorite within their division with the Ravens and Bengals garnering far more interest.

Adding in Tomlin's Steelers that never have put up a losing season and there is reason to doubt their chances of retaining a playoff spot. Neither team might be a true contender but Atlanta deserved to be ahead of Cleveland based on degree of difficulty.