NFL: 30 of the biggest what-ifs in NFL history: 8. The Falcons find a way to not screw things up
Even after several years of trying to process exactly what happened, it’s nearly impossible to comprehend.
The Atlanta Falcons had Super Bowl LI in the bag. They went up by a score of 28-3 against the New England Patriots and were in cruise control. But, like always, the Patriots began their comeback road. While it was impressive, the Falcons helped in a big way, most notably in the fourth quarter. With the ball on the New England 22 yard line, all the Falcons needed to do was run the ball, milk the clock and hit a field goal. That, of course, didn’t happen as they opted to throw several times which resulted in several incompletions, a sack and a penalty.
The rest is history as the Falcons punted the ball and ultimately lost the game in overtime. What if the offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan decided to run the ball as well as kick the field goal and the Falcons held on to win the game? Well, for starters, the franchise wouldn’t be deprived of a Super Bowl sitting on their mantle. Also, there’s no reason to believe that even more success wouldn’t have continued.
Following their complete meltdown, the Falcons have managed to make the postseason just once. With a former MVP like quarterback Matt Ryan along with future Hall of Famer Julio Jones and a plethora of weapons, they simply couldn’t get over the devastating loss. Who knows, if they held on to win, we could have been looking at a true dynasty in the making. Instead, Falcons fans cry themselves to sleep every night over what could have been.