Considering the Falcons’ hiring of a new coach and the future

After three turbulent seasons with the Atlanta Falcons that concluded with another 7-10 result, Arthur Smith was fired in the middle of the night.

The Falcons must make their next hire as Smith looks for his next position, which he will find in a timely manner.

Was this the proper course of action? Who Do the Falcons Plan to Hire? Our staff roundtable discusses those two crucial issues.

Who will be the team’s next hire? Belichick Bill

All of this has been said before, but what the Falcons under Smith failed to do was far more important than what they succeeded in.

They never won more than two games in a row, hardly scored more than 30 points (and much too frequently failed to score even 20), and greatly declined offensively in 2023.

Though that was also true of Dan Quinn and Mike Smith, I know that many players, including Arthur Blank, sincerely liked Smith.

Three straight 7–10 seasons will get most coaches fired in a results-based business.

We can and probably will debate how much of this is at the fault of Smith versus Desmond Ridder or anyone else (Blank, Terry Fontenot) involved in wrecking the team’s quarterback position in recent years.

Though I never like it when coaches are fired, I believe Blank made the proper decision to take the team in a new direction. I was worried that Blank might not take this action.

What’s next? This is where I’m a little apprehensive. Arthur Blank has repeatedly gone to first-time NFL head coaches over his tenure, with mixed results over the years.

There are rumors swirling among league insiders that the Falcons are interested in changing course this time out, going for a Bill Belichick or a Jim Harbaugh with a distinguished track record, long experience, and of course a big name.

The Falcons want to win now, with a roster they think is not that far away from being able to do so, and I think their search will ultimately reflect that.

I’m not the biggest fan of the possibility—mostly owing to questions about who he would hire to run his offense and his extremely spotty personnel record—but right now I’d expect Belichick to be the hire.

Belichick would chase Don Shula’s all-time wins record and proof that he can win without Tom Brady, and Arthur Blank would hope to see a Super Bowl win at last.

If that goes well, it’ll be a rare stroke of genius for a star-crossed franchise, but a disastrous stint would likely end everything that’s familiar about this franchise within the next 3-5 years.

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