Atlanta Falcons: Positives and negatives from 2020 season
After another disappointing season in 2020 for the Atlanta Falcons, here’s a look back at some positives and negatives that took place throughout the year.
The Atlanta Falcons entered the 2020 NFL season looking to get back to the playoffs after a two-year absence while improving to above the .500 mark for the first time since the 2017 season. Unfortunately for Atlanta, it took an even bigger step back this year while finishing the season without a trip to the postseason yet again and an even worse record than the previous two years.
Following a brutal 0-5 start to the season that resulted in the Falcons firing head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff, Atlanta rounded out the regular season schedule with a record of 4-12 overall while seeing the playoff-less streak extended to three years in a row now heading into 2021.
Following that rough winless start to the season, the Falcons did manage to get on a bit of a run in the middle of the year, winning four of six games spanning from Week 6 to Week 12. From that point on, however, Atlanta ended the regular season losing five in a row while finishing with just four wins which is the lowest win total for the franchise since it went 4-12 in 2013. Their 4-12 record this season put them in last in the NFC South.
Now heading into the 2021 offseason a new head coach and front office making decisions for the organization, Atlanta has plenty of questions surrounding the future of the team and where it wants to go moving forward.
Before the offseason officially kicks off for the Falcons, let’s take a look back at the year that was for Atlanta and point out some positives and negatives it can take away from the season.
Negative: Slow start put the Atlanta Falcons in a bad spot again
Going back to as far as the 2019 season, the Falcons started that year off with a rough start of 1-7 that put them behind the rest of the pack in the NFL from the get-go, something Atlanta couldn’t erase or bounce back from en route to a 7-9 finish to that campaign.
Entering the 2020 season, the Falcons had hoped to not replicate that type of performance while getting off to a hot start to put them in the mix of the top teams in the NFC and NFL by the midway point in the year.
Unfortunately, a big negative that took place for Atlanta was the fact that it once again went through a tough start to the regular season, which once again set it behind the rest of the pack in the conference and league in general.
The Falcons began the year with a winless mark of 0-5 overall, which ended up being enough to put them in a spot where they would have to put together an impressive performance in the second half of the season in order to battle back into the playoff picture.
That losing streak to start the year resulted in the organization making changes both at the head coaching position and in the front office and yet again proved to be too much to overcome in the end while winning just four of the final 11 games to finish the season.
Although it was already a goal coming into 2020, Atlanta will head into the 2021 campaign with the primary goal of not replicating what has taken place the last few years to start the regular season while the Falcons ultimately hope to end the playoff drought along the way in the new year.