Watch: Don’t Be Fooled! Dan Quinn Should Still be Launched as Falcons Head Coach
The comeback victory last Sunday seems to have turned the tide of opinion about firing Dan Quinn on Black Monday after the NFL season comes to an end. It was an impressive win over the team that was, at the time, holding the top conference postseason slot but should it make that big of a difference when evaluating Quinn’s leadership of the Falcons in 2019? It shouldn’t. The Falcons should still move on from Quinn after the 2019 season comes to a close.
One game should not overshadow his body of work over the entire season. Some would say that the Falcons are only a small handful of plays from being, at minimum, 8-6 and still battling for a playoff spot. The problem is, those small handful of plays figure in after the Falcons had to come back from two-score deficits against the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals and spotted the Seattle Seahawks to a three-score lead.
Other than in their Week 2 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Falcons played lackluster football through their first eight games of the season. They were also one of the worst defenses in the NFL after Dan Quinn made it his mission to take direct control of that unit in the offseason.
Yes, in the last six weeks the Falcons have beaten two of the elite teams in the NFC, the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco on their fields. That accomplishment shouldn’t be underplayed. Those games did show what the Falcons could have been this season. But there were plenty of other games on the schedule that have reflected accurately what the Falcons have been this season.
The team came back home in Week 13 to play the Saints and got the pants beat off them. In Week 1, they got embarrassed by the Minnesota Vikings on the road. In Week 4, the Falcons may have been singly responsible for Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota saving his job for an extra two weeks.
They also could have shown who they were against the defending NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams and current NFC West leader Seattle Seahawks, both games at home before the bye. Both were embarrassments (and yes, spotting Seattle 24 points heading into halftime was pathetic, despite the second half comeback).
What the victory over the 49ers really proved is how terribly the talent on this team has been handled over the course of the season. That proves why Dan Quinn should be fired as head coach on Black Monday.
