The History of the Atlanta Falcons (2021)
The History of the Atlanta Falcons
2021On February 5th, 2017, millions flocked to the bandwagon of the Atlanta Falcons, the protagonists of the first-ever politically-charged Super Bowl. Newcomers to the Falcons saw a buttoned-up team that had caught fire and was taking care of business week in and week out. But there was so much about this team that they did not understand. So much they could not know.
Seasons & Episode
The Atlanta Falcons are really doing it. They’re finally going to win the Super Bowl they’ve spent 51 years chasing. In order to fully appreciate how much the Falcons and their fans have endured, we need to return to the ancient era of Falcons football – the age of endless losing, chain-smoking, and some of the worst quarterbacking the NFL has ever seen.
Few remember this, but the Atlanta Falcons of the late 1970s and early 1980s were good. As in, “greatest defense in NFL history” good. They were thinking Super Bowl, and you couldn’t blame them, either. Grab your miniature pretzels and lemon drink. We’re about to know God personally.
There is nothing in today’s NFL like the Falcons of the early 1990s, who combined Deion Sanders’ otherworldly abilities and swag with Jerry Glanville’s apparent determination to break every rule of etiquette he could. Along the way, though, they missed out on a generational talent who may have altered the Falcons’ history were he ever given the chance.
Few athletes have ever inspired a city like Michael Vick inspired Atlanta. Vick was a transformational athlete who forever changed how we think about the quarterback position, an apparent superhero who did things that, even years and years later, still seem impossible. His time in Atlanta met a heartbreaking, devastating end. But in the aftermath, against all odds, the Falcons somehow found a way to make us laugh.
Orange man bad! Football team good! These were the bold convictions we fearlessly carried into Super Bowl LI, the first-ever Super Bowl imbued with real political heat. Millions of us jumped on the Falcons’ bandwagon, and we all had a very good time. God bless our big old goofy trickster bird.
On February 5th, 2017, millions flocked to the bandwagon of the Atlanta Falcons, the protagonists of the first-ever politically-charged Super Bowl. Newcomers to the Falcons saw a buttoned-up team that had caught fire and was taking care of business week in and week out. But there was so much about this team that they did not understand. So much they could not know.