The Atlanta Falcons had their way with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, but the Falcons let the Packers back into the game late. The Packers never really had a chance of winning the game, but you cannot help but think of that stunning Super Bowl loss when the Falcons let a good team come back on them late in a game. We must look at other lovable losers of the past and wonder if the Falcons are simply a bad fourth quarter team. We can say that they are not having a hangover from the Super Bowl, but this writer argues that this team is clearly having issues in the fourth quarter.
Why the fourth quarter?
This writer is an Atlanta native who lives just outside the city. His father was a Falcons fan who could not even watch the games because of frustration the Falcons created most of the time. His dad even went so far as to watch 49ers games because at least that was my team. The Atlanta Falcons cause that kind of strain in their fan base, and they have set up the city of Atlanta to be very afraid of losing at the worst time. Atlanta fans have this expectation that something bad will happen even if things look perfect. They might not tell you that, but they feel that strain. It can be heard on sports radio in Atlanta, and it can be seen in amazing collapses by Atlanta teams over the years.
The Twins and Blue Jays have benefited from these collapses. The Yankees got the Braves more than once with those collapses, and the Falcons lost the toughest Super Bowl of all time. So, when the Falcons let a good team start scoring fast, everyone can be concerned.
Is this a sign of trouble?
The Falcons are not in any real trouble this early in the season.
They will go back to the playoffs just because they are more talented and have a better offense than most teams in the league. That is the reality of the situation, but it is not how games are played in the playoffs. The Falcons have to play a different kind of game in the postseason, and that reminds us of teams like the Bills of the 80s and 90s.
Bad luck
The Bills had a lot of bad luck in losing those four Super Bowls in a row. They were just unlucky at every turn, and that is a major problem for teams that feel as though they are unlucky. The Falcons have a lot of precedent for thinking they have bad luck because they can look at the Bills and wonder if things could turn out just as badly for them. We should not sound the panic button, but we should watch fourth quarter scoring for the Falcons.
