It’s time for the Falcons to make a necessary change

We’re not ones to advocate for firings on the early side. Okay, maybe Matt Chambers is, in his infinite wisdom, but mostly we steer clear of that. The value of continuity it, with the exception of the Bengals, evident across the NFL.

But you also can’t ignore it when everything has fallen apart, and things have fallen apart for the Atlanta Falcons. They’re currently 1-4, and they have looked even less competitive than they did a year ago, when they were devastated by major injuries and trying to find their way. They seem even less likely to escape that death sentence than they were a year ago.

That’s the right time to make a change. We can quibble over how much of that Super Bowl run was actually due to Dan Quinn—increasingly it looks like a small percentage—but we got some of our best years out of the current regime regardless. At this point, we’re nearly three full years away from that near-triumph, and things are just getting worse. Right or wrong, good or bad, it’s time to move on and see what a fresh regime, from the front office down to the coaching staff, can bring to Atlanta.

No one here, from the saltiest fan with the most dour (and correct) predictions to the biggest optimist, wants to see this failure go on forever. While we can and will disagree about the cause of the current calamity, it’s clear that Arthur Blank’s next best move is to clean house, let a new regime make some tough calls, and roll in with a core of players that includes Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Grady Jarrett, and Deion Jones, and simply see if they can execute on a vision better than Thomas Dimitroff and Dan Quinn ultimately could. Both of those men can and should jobs elsewhere in the NFL, with teams who need astute rebuilding help or a dose of enthusiasm and belief in their own talent, but the Falcons would be better served by moving on from their current front office group and coaching staff.

They have to move on, too. It may not be this week and it may not even be the bye week, but we’re heading for many new faces in Atlanta. After watching that brutal loss at the hands of Houston, it’ll be a relief to see that change.