The Atlanta Falcons are victorious once again, which saw their win streak extend to four games. Their 19-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints sent the Carolina Panthers to the playoffs, which left a bad taste in many fans' mouths given the Falcons have certainly looked like the best team in the division.
For the second straight season, the Dirty Birds will finish 8-9, but some costly losses prevented them from winning the NFC South. Because of that, question marks surrounding Raheem Morris' future in Atlanta have surfaced for weeks. but Morris broke his silence on those rumors after the win.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on whether he expects to coach the Falcons in 2026: "My expectation is always to be back. I'm going to coach this football team as long as (Arthur Blank) allows me."
— Terrin Waack (@TerrinWaack) January 4, 2026
While addressing the media, the 49-year-old admitted that he expects to be back in 2026, which is no surprise. You'll never hear a head coach publicly admit he thinks he won't be back, especially one as confident as Morris, but that doesn't mean it's a guarantee he'll receive another year at the helm.
Raheem Morris will most likely be back coaching the Falcons in 2026
Morris' own words are in line with the report Adam Schefter gave earlier today, where he revealed that Atlanta's head coach is "leaning safe" despite the ongoing hot seat rumors. And as much as he may deserve to be fired and fans may want him gone, that seemingly won't be happening anytime soon.
However, he followed up his admission by confessing he has yet to meet with Arthur Blank about next season, which means that no decision is final yet. With that said though, no decision was going to be made by the 83-year-old until the season ends, which means he has a difficult decision on his hands.
Blank tends to be patient when it comes to firing head coaches, as he's never fired a head coach before their third season in his 23 years as owner. Bobby Petrino is the main exception, as he coached just 13 games with the Falcons, but he was never fired, he resigned to take a college job.
A few weeks ago, Morris looked like a dead man walking. The Falcons were 4-9 and eliminated from playoff contention and their record was incredibly disappointing relative to expectations. But since then, they have yet to lose a game, while Kirk Cousins has a 5-2 record as the starter since Michael Penix Jr.'s injury. And the locker room doesn't seem to like him very much.
This is a team that has real playoff aspirations, and both Morris and Blank seem to be well aware of that. If they miss the playoffs again next season, he and Penix will be as good as gone, but he seemed to have just confirmed he'll be back even though this team lost far too many winnable games.