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Falcons shouldn’t fire Dan Quinn despite lousy season

By Tyler Brooke

FOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 22: Head coach Dan Quinn of the Atlanta Falcons looks on before a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on October 22, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
FOXBORO, MA - OCTOBER 22: Head coach Dan Quinn of the Atlanta Falcons looks on before a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on October 22, 2017 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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It’s been a tough season for the Atlanta Falcons, but that doesn’t mean that they should call it quits on head coach Dan Quinn.

The Atlanta Falcons haven’t exactly lived up to expectations in 2018. Just a couple of years removed from a Super Bowl appearance, the Falcons entered Sunday with just a 4-8 record.

Despite the lousy season, the Falcons would be crazy to part ways with head coach Dan Quinn.

Quinn took over as the head coach in Atlanta back in 2015 after an incredibly successful run as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, helping develop the famous Legion of Boom. The Falcons went 8-8 in his debut season before going 11-5 the very next year, taking Atlanta to its first Super Bowl appearance since 1999.

A 10-6 record and an early divisional round exit last season was definitely a disappointment for Falcons fans, but it was still a relative success given the departure of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who was a big reason for Matt Ryan’s success during his MVP season.

Unfortunately, the Falcons have struggled to win games in 2018. There are certainly other factors in play, but the main reason for the Falcons’ struggles have been their plethora of injuries on both sides of the ball.

Key contributors on offense and defense, including Devonte Freeman, Andy Levitre, Ricardo Allen, Keanu Neal and Derrick Shelby, have all been placed on injured reserve.

Without Freeman and Levitre, the Falcons have had the worst rushing offense in all of football, averaging just 79 yards per game on the ground and only 3.8 yards per carry.  Despite Quinn’s solid defensive scheme and experience coaching that side of the ball, the defense has struggled to stop opposing offenses with so many of its talented playmakers injured.

This is certainly a lost season for Atlanta, but given all of the success Quinn has had in previous seasons, it would be foolish to let their head coach go. Quinn has kept the Falcons competitive in arguably the toughest division in the NFL, continuing to keep up with both the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers.

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The Falcons will have a chance to get healthy and reload with more talent this offseason, and that should scare the rest of the NFC, especially with Quinn at the helm.

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