I didn’t expect the Falcons to beat the 49ers on Sunday. I didn’t think their vague playoff hopes amounted to much of anything. Despite my bracing and battening, I was not ready to see them lose the way they did.
The Falcons weren’t prepared for this effort. They fell down on offense and defense, and they fell down early and they fell down late. Afforded a frankly unrealistic playoff dream, they refused to lean into the fantasy and lost handily thanks to poor pass protection, poor tackling, and a poor overall effort. They fell down because they weren’t good enough to beat the 49ers, and they didn’t have a superlative effort in the can to overcome that.