Falcons Season; rate it... 37 cheering fans waiting for their team to celebrate (1 Viewer)

[fantasycurse42]

Would you rather your team have a season like the Falcons just had, only to surrender a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl, or an 8-8 / 9-7 maybe out of the first round kinda season?

I've been on the heartbreak side a few times in the last couple of years - 49ers/Ravens and the UNC/Nova game. The close loss in the title game is demoralizing, but surrendering a 25 point lead? I gotta think that is crippling for a fan base. 

I was at the 2012 NFC Championship game where Kyle Williams fumbled in overtime, it was one of the best weekends of my life, until the loss and subsequent flight home on a plane filled with Giants fans, prob the worst flight of my life - I'd prob prefer to have never been on that flight or at that game.

 

[ChiefD]

They had a shot at it. That is a great season to me.

 

[fantasycurse42]

They had a shot at it. That is a great season to me.

Normally I agree with this, but to lose like that :X

I voted for the blowout option in the Super Bowl, easier to take the L IMO.

 

[Cjw_55106]

Normally I agree with this, but to lose like that :X

Ultimately, a loss is a loss. No one would be happy with it, but I dont know how one could say an 8-8 season would be better. 

 

[Thunderlips]

No.  Going back to the Yankees in 04.  There's nothing positive that you can take from a season in which something like that happens.  The only solace the Falcons fans should have is that it didn't happen against an arch rival. 

 

[fantasycurse42]

Ultimately, a loss is a loss. No one would be happy with it, but I dont know how one could say an 8-8 season would be better. 

I kinda disagree with this. 

The Arthur Blank before and afters are golden... To go from such a high to such a low, just demoralizing.

 

[fantasycurse42]

No.  Going back to the Yankees in 04. 

Great example

 

[Mr. Ected]

The made it to the SB, heck they made it to the playoffs. Bears did how well?

 

[fantasycurse42]

The made it to the SB, heck they made it to the playoffs. Bears did how well?

I look back on the 49ers season as a happy one for me. My expectations were zero, they've got the number 2 pick, and I got to watch/read the media destroy two guys I hate all season (Baalke & York). 

 

[Cjw_55106]

No.  Going back to the Yankees in 04.  There's nothing positive that you can take from a season in which something like that happens.  The only solace the Falcons fans should have is that it didn't happen against an arch rival. 

Not true at all. If it happened to the Patriots (or Yankees in your example) you may be right. For the Falcons to show up and be a few stupid OC calls away from winning it all is a great season. If you get blown out, part of you thinks you didnt belong. The way it shook out, the players know they are good enough. I see plenty of positives to a season like that. 

 

[Limp Ditka]

The made it to the SB, heck they made it to the playoffs. Bears did how well?

:finger:

 

[fantasycurse42]

Not true at all. If it happened to the Patriots (or Yankees in your example) you may be right. For the Falcons to show up and be a few stupid OC calls away from winning it all is a great season. If you get blown out, part of you thinks you didnt belong. The way it shook out, the players know they are good enough. I see plenty of positives to a season like that. 

I kinda see it as the opposite. They collapsed and absolutely choked when they had the game won - in the biggest spotlight there is, they crumbled. I think it is terrible for morale. 

Obviously this is speculation from either side of the argument, just how I see it.

 

[fantasycurse42]

I'd also think this will be the worst, longest, most painful offseason possible for the Falcons.

I think teams like the Giants or Bucs will have much better offseasons.

 

[Thunderlips]

Not true at all. If it happened to the Patriots (or Yankees in your example) you may be right. For the Falcons to show up and be a few stupid OC calls away from winning it all is a great season. If you get blown out, part of you thinks you didnt belong. The way it shook out, the players know they are good enough. I see plenty of positives to a season like that. 

They weren't.

The only caveat to this is if the Falcons go on, with a good portion of this roster, and win the Super Bowl in the next couple of years......with their reasoning being that this lost burned a hole in their soul to the point where they had to win. 

 

[Cjw_55106]

They weren't.

The only caveat to this is if the Falcons go on, with a good portion of this roster, and win the Super Bowl in the next couple of years......with their reasoning being that this lost burned a hole in their soul to the point where they had to win. 

 OK. Good enough to win and winning are two different things. They are/were good enough to win. Doesn't mean they always will, but they have enough talent to win. If they hand the ball off twice after the Julio catch, the game is probably 99% over when they make a chip shot FG and go up 11. 

 

[Mr. Ected]

The made it to the SB, heck they made it to the playoffs. Bears did how well?

:finger:

I am a Bears fan. Hurts to be in a family full of Packers fans.

 

[Dentist]

I witnessed a game like that as a Chiefs fan when the Colts came back from 28 down to beat us in a playoff game.

The range of emotions is pretty crazy...  you're already talking to your buddies about the win,  then you're starting to get a little nervous...  then you're really on the edge of your seat just pissed off.....    then you take a dump on your TV and throw it out the door after the clinching TD.

For this to happen in a Super Bowl...  i definitely wouldn't have slept well that night and it probably would've weighed on me for a few days afterwards.. and I didn't even play in the game..  if I'm Matt Ryan I probably wouldn't get out of bed for a week.

There's no scenario in which you would choose "play in the super bowl and lose in the most gutting fashion vs. not appearing"

 

[Da Guru]

The sad thing is after a very good regular season and playoff games this Falcon team will be remembered as the biggest chokers in Super Bowl history. To lose any NFL game up 28-3 halfway through the third is almost impossible..but to have it happen on the worlds biggest stage is painful.  When you think any one single play could have prevented that.

The fumble that started it all. Pick up a first down, use more of the clock, don`t get sacked, holding penalty that put them out of FG range, Two 2 points conversion that were not stopped. Even the second to last play could have been an INT.  A perfect storm of errors.  If any of those plays went the other way they win.

 

[sports_fan]

Knowing it will be talked about for years and that you won't ever be able to forget it is tough to take. I'd rather not make it and lose earlier in the playoffs in a less memorable game

 

[Dickies]

Don't understand the voters who would prefer a terrible season and high draft picks.  If you don't want your team in the Super Bowl then what the #### do you want?  

 

[fantasycurse42]

Knowing it will be talked about for years forever

 

[Cjw_55106]

I witnessed a game like that as a Chiefs fan when the Colts came back from 28 down to beat us in a playoff game.

The range of emotions is pretty crazy...  you're already talking to your buddies about the win,  then you're starting to get a little nervous...  then you're really on the edge of your seat just pissed off.....    then you take a dump on your TV and throw it out the door after the clinching TD.

For this to happen in a Super Bowl...  i definitely wouldn't have slept well that night and it probably would've weighed on me for a few days afterwards.. and I didn't even play in the game..  if I'm Matt Ryan I probably wouldn't get out of bed for a week.

There's no scenario in which you would choose "play in the super bowl and lose in the most gutting fashion vs. not appearing"

I bet lots of current and former players would disagree. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

I see SBLI as having been taken and not given away and a great improvement over the first-time-thru results most teams endure. Bet every Cowboy player would take the Falcon plight over their own.

 

[need2know]

Considering they were a long shot to make playoffs before season started it's a great season.  

But I would rather get blown out then lose the way they did.  Ouch

 

[Jayrok]

They won the conference championship.  That's a good if not great season.  

 

[Dentist]

I bet lots of current and former players would disagree. 

Just because of the appearance check?  Maybe for that I could see wanting to participate... otherwise...

No one in their right mind would want to be associated with the losing end of that game.

 

[NCCommish]

They got beaten by arguably the greatest modern NFL coach and QB. Matt Ryan isn't Brady and it's pretty obvious there is no Bellichik on their sideline. And still it took a miracle catch to keep the Pats rolling. There are players, great players, who will never sniff a SB.

Better to get there and lose than to never get there at all.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

No one in their right mind would want to be associated with the losing end of that game.

I have to agree with Dentist here.  Maybe if this had happened to Green Bay or Dallas or Pittsburgh it wouldn't be so bad, since those franchises have so much history.  But this is the one game that will instantly spring to mind whenever you think about the Atlanta Falcons, more so than the other SB.  Their one signature accomplishment is having the championship wrapped up, and then inexplicably giving it away to the other team.  Basically, they're the Houston Oilers, only worse since this happened in the actual championship game.  

 

[fantasycurse42]

Bet every Cowboy player would take the Falcon plight over their own.

They still talk about the Houston Oilers from 1993, I'd bet those guys don't enjoy being in that section of the history book.

This one is 100x worse.

 

[Sabertooth]

You either win, or you fail.  Nobody remembers the losers.  

 

[fantasycurse42]

Basically, they're the Houston Oilers, only worse since this happened in the actual championship game.  

My comment above seconds after you posted this

 

[Limp Ditka]

You either win, or you fail.  Nobody remembers the losers.  

We've brought up about 3 of them in this thread alone.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

HOT GARBAGE.

The falcs are HOT GARBAGE.

That's how I answer this poll.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Move`em to St. Louis.

Or Albuquerque. Or contract them. No one will miss them, especially not Atlantans.

 

[wikkidpissah]

They still talk about the Houston Oilers from 1993, I'd bet those guys don't enjoy being in that section of the history book.

This one is 100x worse.

Maybe it's because it was my team administering the beating, but i didn't see an ounce of panic or other kind of kittiness from the Falcons. One TO, one bad call (at the end of a drive that wouldn't have happened without Falcon boldness) - that usually dont turn into 31 points for the opposition. I see no shame, even for ShannyJr

 

[fantasycurse42]

Maybe it's because it was my team administering the beating, but i didn't see an ounce of panic or other kind of kittiness from the Falcons. One TO, one bad call (at the end of a drive that wouldn't have happened without Falcon boldness) - that usually dont turn into 31 points for the opposition. I see no shame, even for ShannyJr

You didn't see the panic? When it was 28-20 did you have any doubt as to the outcome of this game?

 

[wikkidpissah]

You didn't see the panic? When it was 28-20 did you have any doubt as to the outcome of this game?

Not much, but that was because the greatest surfer of all time was atop a tremendous wave

ETA; and, come to think of it, there was significant doubt for me when the Falcons got out of the hole they weren't supposed to get out of if we were to win.

ETA2: and i stick by my assertion that there's no comeback with a normal-length halftime. Brady was out on his feet going to the lockerroom.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Knowing it will be talked about for years and that you won't ever be able to forget it is tough to take. I'd rather not make it and lose earlier in the playoffs in a less memorable game

I can relate to this. Been several painful memories that keep getting replayed even to this day: Tom Dempsey kicking a 63 yard FG as time expired, "now there's a steal by Bird....underneath to DJ and he lays it in", most recently Rodgers 61 yard hail mary.

But we're talking about the Falcons - two Super Bowls in 51 years, of course it was a great season. They lost to maybe the best NFL dynasty of all-time, they lost to the greatest coach of all-time, they lost to the only QB to win 5 rings/4 SB MVPs. Yeah it was super painful - but no shame.

 

[Moe.]

All of the players would rather make the Super Bowl and lose (regardless of how) than not make it at all. From an athlete's perspective it's not even a question. 

As a fan I have a lot of experience with my favorite team losing championship games. Getting blown out is way worse than a losing a close one (particularly if you travel to attend) in my opinion. 

 

[James Daulton]

They went out like whimpering #####es.  #### them, this will further relegate their franchise to one of the league's jokes.

 

[fantasycurse42]

I think the Bucs are a good example of a team that you could compare and think who is coming into 2017 in better shape:

Besides having a QB on the verge of being a star (and a role model @cstu), things are looking up for the franchise. Their offseason is filled with high hopes. On the opposite end, the Falcons offseason is going to be filled with questions about the biggest choke ever.

 

[mquinnjr]

They had a shot at it. That is a great season to me.

A shot at it? All they had to do was not pass and kill the clock. Absolutely brutal way to lose and make way to the only 5-time SB champion. Shanahan at OC is now gone, young team but who knows if they ever get back going forward?

 

[Dentist]

You either win, or you fail.  Nobody remembers the losers.  

Baloney..   I won't ever forget the 90's Bills, the Oilers game, the 18-0 Pats losing in ridiculous fashion,  the Seattle-NE game and the final interception,  Scott Norwood,  Lin Elliott, the 73 win Warriors losing...    shocking defeats are sometimes even more memorable than winners.

I tell you who no one remembers... bogus championship teams like that 9-7 Giants team or 83 win Cardinals team...  those are forgettable.

Massive losses?    This one will be remembered forever..  for the next 50 years everytime a team is getting blown out in the SB,  the graphic is going to come up mentioning that these Pats beat Atlanta in 2017...   This loss is likely to outlive me.

You don't want to be associated with that...   Matt Ryan is going to have a coronary someday watching the classic sports channel someday when Superbowl 51 from the now defunct NFL comes on.

 

[Dentist]

A shot at it? All they had to do was not pass and kill the clock. Absolutely brutal way to lose and make way to the only 5-time SB champion. Shanahan at OC is now gone, young team but who knows if they ever get back going forward?

I suspect this is a 9-7 team next year that can't recover from that loss...  similar to the '16 Panthers.

You just don't bounce back from a loss like that..  you never forget it.. it ruins lives

 

[fantasycurse42]

Matt Ryan is going to have a coronary someday watching the classic sports channel someday when Superbowl 51 from the now defunct NFL comes on.

Imagine he never wins a Super Bowl

 

[Dentist]

You didn't see the panic? When it was 28-20 did you have any doubt as to the outcome of this game?

Until the 2nd 2 point conversion happened, I thought the falcons were going to hold on and win the game and be lucky the clock expired.

I figured it would be a furious comeback that ended the way the Pats '15-16 season ended... scored the TD to tie the broncos in the AFC championship only to miss the 2 pt conversion.. game over.

 

[Dentist]

Imagine he never wins a Super Bowl

I suspect he won't..  most don't

 

[fantasycurse42]

Until the 2nd 2 point conversion happened, I thought the falcons were going to hold on and win the game and be lucky the clock expired.

I figured it would be a furious comeback that ended the way the Pats '15-16 season ended... scored the TD to tie the broncos in the AFC championship only to miss the 2 pt conversion.. game over.

Once it was a 1 possession game, I had zero doubts on the outcome. The Falcons looked like they knew as well IMO.

 

[Sabertooth]

Baloney..   I won't ever forget the 90's Bills, the Oilers game, the 18-0 Pats losing in ridiculous fashion,  the Seattle-NE game and the final interception,  Scott Norwood,  Lin Elliott, the 73 win Warriors losing...    shocking defeats are sometimes even more memorable than winners.

I tell you who no one remembers... bogus championship teams like that 9-7 Giants team or 83 win Cardinals team...  those are forgettable.

Massive losses?    This one will be remembered forever..  for the next 50 years everytime a team is getting blown out in the SB,  the graphic is going to come up mentioning that these Pats beat Atlanta in 2017...   This loss is likely to outlive me.

You don't want to be associated with that...   Matt Ryan is going to have a coronary someday watching the classic sports channel someday when Superbowl 51 from the now defunct NFL comes on.

Maybe.  This team will go down as the biggest chokers ever.  

 

[AAABatteries]

The only way I know how to answer your question is to say I've never been more devastated by the result of a sporting event that I didn't play in than that game.  I didn't sleep well the last two nights and I'm not sure now I'll ever get over it - to the point that I'm seriously reevaluating why I care so much.  I can't explain the feeling I had the other night - just know it sucked beyond belief - I wouldn't  wish that on anybody but UGA fans  -  that means I wouldn't wish it on Liverpool fans.  

The Braves lost several WS but they did win one - I don't see the Falcons and Ryan recovering from this for a while.

The worst part is two-fold - you get no credit for losing like that - they played absolutely amazing for 3 quarters basically.  The other is the the ongoing narrative about Atlanta being a bad sports town - it's bull#### because what they mean is it's a bad pro sports town.  College sports rule the area and Atlanta teams haven't been around as long as most of these supposed great sports towns.  It would have been nice to have those people #### for a little while.  There's plenty of people here that care about pro teams, but they only show up for non-winning teams when it's college.