Atlanta Falcons: Latest loss to Lions is the worst one yet

The Atlanta Falcons have had some disappointing losses in 2020, but Week 7 was the worst yet.

The level of disappointment has grown quite a bit for the Atlanta Falcons during the 2020 NFL season just seven weeks into the year.

Not only are the Falcons a brutal 1-6 overall following a Week 7 loss to the Detroit Lions, but they have also seen moves made at both the head coaching position and in the front office at general manager prior to the midway point in the regular season.

Along the way of that disappointing record to start the new year, Atlanta has had a few awful losses that could have the team sitting more around the .500 mark rather than with just one win going into Week 8.

To mention a few of the brutal losses, you have to think back to Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys when the Falcons blew a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter while falling on the road to the Cowboys. The very next week, in Week 3, Atlanta held a 16-point lead late in the game to only collapse against the Chicago Bears at home in Atlanta.

With those pair of terrible and avoidable losses, you would think that the Falcons had hit rock bottom and the disappointment of blowing a late-game lead couldn’t get any worse. But in Week 7, Atlanta was able to accomplish that.

The Atlanta Falcons are making collapsing losses an artform.

On Sunday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the Falcons absolutely blew the game against the Lions in what might be the worst loss of the 2020 season. Which says a lot.

Late in the game with just over a minute to play and Atlanta trailing 16-14, Falcons running back Todd Gurley blew through the offensive line and ran for what ended up being a go-ahead touchdown. Although you would think that would be a positive, Gurley appeared to actually try and come up short of the endzone to run the clock down and put his team in a position to kick a game-winning field goal or score a game-winning touchdown as time expired.

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Instead, Gurley ended up crossing the endzone and put his team up 22-16 with about a minute left to play. At that point, the Falcons held a win percentage of 95.9 percent, which should mean they should have come out on top in the game for the second win in a row, right? Well, think again.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Detroit offense began their final drive of the game with 57 seconds left and down six points, having to drive about 75 yards to try and find the endzone. With three seconds left, Stafford did just that when he found TJ Hockenson for a touchdown that put Detroit up as time expired.

The loss for the Falcons is a case of yet another disappointing loss to add to the list of things that have gone terribly wrong in Atlanta already in 2020. Since they already fired everyone that could take responsibility for performances like what has taken place through seven games, there isn’t really anymore firing to do.

The Falcons have had some brutal moments during the regular season to this point. But the Week 7 loss to the Lions sits right atop the list of moments that make you scratch your head.