Atlanta Falcons continue to invent inexplicable ways to lose

The Atlanta Falcons have become experts at giving games away so far in the 2020 season.

Just when you thought the Atlanta Falcons were incapable of losing a game late in the fourth quarter in which they were pretty much guaranteed to win, they did it again.

How much more pain can Falcons fans endure? It is almost comical at this point and beyond both exasperating and infuriating. The 23-22 loss to the Detroit Lions just might even transcend the previous losses this season to the Cowboys, Bears and Panthers, in terms of unprecedented history.

Once again, and becoming a weekly guarantee, the offensive play-calling was beyond putrid. The defense was non-existent when it needed to be and the coaching decisions were mind-boggling.

With the Falcons up 14-13 and facing a fourth-and-5 from the Lions 13-yard line with 12 minutes remaining, Raheem Morris decided to get too cute and go for it. His over-aggressiveness would cost him big time. Any football fan knows that, in this case, you kick the field goal, take the points and go up, 17-13. This coaching staff is horrific when it comes to basic situational football.

Todd Gurley’s momentum could not keep up out of the endzone with 1:04 left and gave the ball back to Matthew Stafford and the Lions. A veteran like him should have had enough awareness to instantly take a knee or fall at the 1-yard line.

There had to have been an abundance of Falcons fans who had absolutely zero confidence in the defense stopping the Lions from marching down the field with no timeouts to score the winning touchdown. Can anybody on defense actually step up and make a play when needed most, like on the final drive? Evidently not.

The pass rush was pretty much non-existent all day, as usual. On the final drive, there was zero pressure on Stafford and the defense continues to play a soft zone, which was another head-scratcher.

Matt Ryan and Julio Jones both had great games — again. Both of them really do deserve better. Neither of them deserves to be a part of this sorry franchise anymore.

The new Atlanta Falcons look a lot like the old Atlanta Falcons.

Just when you thought the Atlanta Falcons had possibly turned a corner in last week’s dominant win over Minnesota in the first game without Dan Quinn, they revert back to their old ways and continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

This team’s confidence is so shattered and there has to be a psychological component to inventing new ways to lose on a weekly basis when having a big enough lead in the fourth quarter.

Morris should know better than to go for it in field-goal range when you have a lead in the fourth quarter. The bottom line is, just like Quinn did, Morris blew it big time today under pressure. The over-aggressiveness is inexcusable, the soft zone coverage is inexcusable and the gradient red uniforms are hideous.

The first move Morris should have made when he was named interim head-coach was firing Dirk Koetter. Today was further evidence of this, with a lack of creativity in play-calling and continue to run up the middle when the offensive line was not able to sustain any push again the Lions defensive front.

The gradient uniforms are a horrible look, too. The way the black fades into red on the jersey is quite similar to how the Atlanta Falcons fade late in games. The only way this team will rid itself of these embarrassingly losing ways on a weekly basis is a complete overhaul next season with an entirely new regime from top to bottom.

It has become part of the organization’s psyche now and a push of the refresh button next season just might prevent the ATL from being known as “All-Time Losers.”