Playoffs: For Falcons, Getting There is Half the Problem

The Atlanta Falcons are not a team with a rich playoff history. As a matter of fact, up until this year the team had never made the playoffs in consecutive years but in past seasons when the Falcons did make the playoffs they usually made it count.

That didn’t occur very often though. The Falcons have only been to the playoffs eight times since the strike-shortened season of 1982 and three of those post season appearances have come in the past four years under Head Coach Mike Smith.

Smith has been more successful getting the Falcons to the playoffs than any coach in the past 30 years but he only has an 0-3 playoff record to show for it. Adding to the Falcons’ playoff ineptitude, all three opponents that beat the Falcons have gone on to play in the Super Bowl.

Before Smith took over, the Falcons had won at least one playoff game in four of their previous five playoff appearances. The first of those coming back in 1991 when the Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints on the road with a 27-20 Wild Card win. They would lose the next week to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the Washington Redskins.

The Falcons didn’t play so well during their playoff berth in 1995. Coach June Jones would lead the Falcons to the playoffs that year using his version of the Run-and-Shoot offense but they would come up short in their Wild Card game against Brett Farve and the Green Bay Packers.

The Falcons would redeem themselves of that early playoff exit three years later. In 1998, the Falcons would win the NFC crown by beating both the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings but they would fall to the Denver Broncos 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII. The Falcons only Super Bowl appearance in the history of the franchise.

In 2002, Atlanta would be the first team to beat the Packers on Lambeau Field during the playoffs. Unfortunately, they were unable to get past the Philadelphia Eagles who beat them 20-6 in the Divisional round that year.

Then finally in 2004, the Falcons would beat the St. Louis Rams who still had a few players left from the “Greatest Show on Turf” on their roster before losing to the Super Bowl-bound Eagles in the NFC Conference Championship game. Like I said, Atlanta hasn’t had a lot of playoff appearances over the years but when they have made it to the postseason they usually made a big splash.

That is until Mike Smith became coach. There’s nothing wrong with being a consistent winner during the regular season but eventually that regular-season success needs to translate to the playoffs. Still, he has at least mastered the first half of the equation so let’s see how long it takes Smith to figure out the rest.

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and also writes for both The Penalty Flag and Outside The Redzone. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @Sportmentalist.