Raheem Morris' tenure as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons helped confirm what we already knew: he's a below average head coach, but is an elite defensive coordinator,--and his status as one of the elite defensives mind was something we got to see firsthand now that he's back in a DC role.
After the Falcons fired him, Morris was hired as the to be the San Francisco 49ers' defensive coordinator--reuniting him with old friend Kyle Shanahan. And in his 49ers coaching debut, he confirmed that sentiment by stifling one of the league's best offenses under the lights of Thursday Night Football-in the land down under, no less.
Not only did the Niners dominate the Los Angeles Rams, the 27-7 final score saw Morris' unit lock up reigning MVP Matthew Stafford. He mustered just 155 passing yards, threw an interception, and logged a 61.2 passer rating, all of which is because a new DC unlocked the pass rush of a team that had none last year. And despite not recording a sack, it was the extra pressure that saw Stafford fold.
This was a Rams team that entered Thursday night as the likely Super Bowl favorites, and the 50-year-old made their offense look worse than Rutgers did against UMass last weekend. And for as elite as Morris' debut was with the 49ers, it makes his lack of success in Atlanta look that much worse.
Raheem Morris should've been calling plays for the Atlanta Falcons
This is not to say the Falcons should regret firing Raheem Morris, because they absolutely shouldn't, but it puts things into perspective. They needed the change that Kevin Stefanski has provided, but it also explained exactly why the Morris experiment didn't work out in Atlanta: he wasn't calling plays.
Morris opted to go with more of a CEO-style approach with the Dirty Birds, as Zac Robinson called plays on offense, but the weirder choice was not taking more control of the defense. In 2024, Jimmy Lake was the defensive play-caller, and in 2025 Jeff Ulbrich was, which makes absolutely zero sense.
The Falcons had a Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator in their back pocket, yet they chose to hand the reins over to Jimmy Lake? No wonder this guy was a failure as a head coach, he lacked the faith in his own abilities even though he's proven time and again that he's one of the NFL's best DCs.
However, last night proved just how dangerous he is when he isn't the main man in charge. This was his first time calling plays on defense since 2023 with the Rams, and since we never really saw this side of him in Atlanta, we assumed it didn't exist--but all a scenery change had to do was jar it loose.
Every Falcons fan was wondering where this side of Raheem Morris was these last two seasons, and unfortunately, it took just one game with the 49ers for explain why he needed to be fired--and the commanding defensive performance now has us asking what could've been.
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