The Atlanta Falcons have not won a game in a month. Not since getting to 6-3 on the season with a win over the Dallas Cowboys have the Dirty Birds tasted victory. They have lost four games in a row with a bye week baked in. Losing to the New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers and now the Minnesota Vikings have Atlanta saddled at 6-7 and now outside the NFC playoff picture.
Somehow, someway, the Falcons squandered a season sweep of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to now be one game back of them in the division with four left to play. While four of their final games are of the cakewalk variety (Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers), this team has virtually no business of making the playoffs as long as Kirk Cousins remains their starting quarterback liability.
His play since the Cowboys game has been varying shades of horrific. He turned the ball over twice in his homecoming of sorts to Minneapolis. Cousins' play, as well as so much yellow laundry by the Falcons across the board allowed for his replacement Sam Darnold to have one of the very best games of his journeyman career. With a playoff berth on the line, Atlanta needs to make a big change.
With Michael Penix Jr. reportedly turning heads in practice, Raheem Morris needs to start him now.
That's eight interceptions and no touchdown passes for Kirk Cousins over the last four games. #Falcons
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) December 8, 2024
Atlanta probably needs to win out to make the playoffs, but it cannot afford to lose to the Raiders.
Atlanta Falcons need to bench Kirk Cousins now to make the NFC playoffs
There are a lot of things this team does well, and there are several things it does poorly. For as explosive at its offensive weaponry has been, it does not matter when the offensive line lives to hold and Cousins likes turnovers more than Arby's. Defensively, the Falcons can finally get after the passer. Too bad the secondary continues to give up the big play like their livelihoods dependent on it.
I don't know if Penix is ready just yet, but Cousins no longer has it. His ball lacks any zip on it. This has resulted in him not being able to throw the deep ball with any confidence. With Zac Robinson's insistence of trying to 11 personnel the opposition to death like the Sean McVay disciple he is, Atlanta needs to go with a quarterback who can live and operate out of shotgun better than Cousins.
Look. 2025 was always going to be the year this team made a deep run into the playoffs. The goal for this year was to make the seven-team field out of the NFC. While that is still right in front of them, I am starting to wonder when Raheem Morris is going to level up as a head coach. He has shown no ability to make his team better when it counts. Yes, the pass rush is better, but Cousins is decaying rapidly.
Atlanta has every reason to pivot to Penix for the rest of the season, but I wonder if that will happen.