- Super Bowl Championships: 0
- Last Super Bowl Appearance: Super Bowl 51
- Claim to Fame: Play their home games in the most expensive stadium (to build) that’s currently open in the NFL
- Claim to Shame: Were on the wrong side of the largest comeback in Super Bowl history in SB51
The city of Atlanta began falling in love with football when the American Football League held two preseason games in their city in 1962. Three years later, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle granted Atlanta their own franchise.
The early years of football were not kind to the dirty birds, but good things take time. The franchise began to turn in the late 80s when they drafted Deion Sanders, who brought national attention to an afterthought franchise.
The Falcons would finally break through and “Dirty Bird” their way to their first Super Bowl appearance in 1999. Unfortunately, John Elway and the Denver Broncos proved too much for Atlanta, as they lost 34-19.
This Super Bowl defeat was at least easier to swallow than their next trip, which came in Super Bowl 51 against the New England Patriots.
Fast forward to today, the Falcons have one of the scarrier offenses in the NFL and a defense that stands to improve if it can stay healthy. Falcons head coach Dan Quinn and his staff have done an extraordinary job of building through the draft.
Not only have they struck gold with their first-round picks for the last seven years, they have also found remarkable value in the middle rounds (Devonta Freeman, Grady Jarrett, Robert Alford, and Deion Jones among others).
Atlanta is coming off an ugly 7-9 season, though, one in which they allowed 26.5 points per game. Several key defensive players missed huge chunks of time, including Deion Jones, Keanu Neal, and Ricardo Allen. If the team has better injury luck, the defense should at least be average, and that just may be good enough for a Matt Ryan/Julio Jones-led offense to get back into the NFC playoffs.
