Former Falcons head coach ranked among worst hires in NFL history

Pro Football Network put together a list of the worst coaching hires in NFL history. It isn't going to come as a surprise to Atlanta Falcons fans that a certain former head coach was included. Bobby Petrino was ranked the 3rd worst hire in the history of the league.

Begging the question who ranked ahead of the former Atlanta head coach? Nathaniel Hackett and Urban Meyer were given that particular honor as the two worst hires. It is easy to make the argument that Petrino was a far worse hire than Hackett.

Petrino should be ranked atop the list simply due to the fact he quit on the Atlanta Falcons

Despite not making it a full season at least the former Denver coach never quit on his team. Petrino couldn't make it through one rebuilding season going 3-10 and clocking out before the job was done. As bad as both head coaches were in their short tenures at least Hackett never quit.

One could argue that he should have, however, not giving up on a lost team and season deserves more credit than Petrino. Hackett was an all-time bad hire but at least it was the team's choice to move on.

This brings us to Urban Meyer who has his own unique argument to rank atop the list. Meyer's time with Jacksonville is uglier than Petrino's with Atlanta if you look simply at the headlines. The final straw for the head coach was the decision to kick his kicker while sharing some choice words.

Urban Meyer and Bobby Petrino both have their own unique arguments for why they should be ranked atop the list. For Falcons fans, it is the fact that Petrino quit and the manner in which he chose to do so.

The writing was on the wall that it was a doomed partnership. However, Petrino taking matters into his own hands and refusing to finish out the season leaving behind his staff and players really remains one of the ugliest exits and deserves at the very least to be a spot higher in these rankings.