The Atlanta Falcons are out of the playoffs

The Atlanta Falcons needed a whole lot of luck. They had some, but not enough. Atlanta somehow upset the undefeated Carolina Panthers. The St. Louis Rams upset the red hot Seattle Seahawks.

Then the New York Giants absolutely choked against the Minnesota Vikings in the most Eli Manning way possible. Thanks in part to three Manning's three (!!!!) interceptions, the Giants lost by over 30 points. Playoff hopes were dead by the first quarter.

While the plot of Lost may be clearer than the NFL's tiebreaker for the wild card, Atlanta absolutely needed two things to happen: the Seahawks to lose, and the Vikings to lose.

Thanks for ruining everything, Minnesota.

With Atlanta out of the playoffs, the team is stuck playing for pride and a winning record. After their mid-season slide, the team looked unable to beat anyone. Now they could finish with a respectable 9-7 record and enter the offseason on an upswing.

Dan Quinn appears to have successfully used the bad loss to the Panthers a few weeks ago to motivate the team to another level. Thanks to the last two games, Quinn has flashed what he can do with a subpar roster. The team did not quit, even against ridiculous odds. With a good finish and a quality offseason, Atlanta could hit the ground running in 2016.