From 2018-2020, the Falcons were chasing a dream that died in February 2017, trying to re-capture faded glory and find the missing piece or two that would return them to relevance. Owing to those decisions and the choices of the new regime, the Falcons from 2021-2022 spent nickels on defense and pennies on offense, dreaming of the day when they’d be able to spend big in pursuit of something bigger and brighter.
For those five seasons, we were subjected to a lot of bad football. They won 32 games over that span—in four of those seasons, exactly seven wins—and lost 50 games, never making the postseason and only occasionally delivering brilliant play for more than a quarter here or a game there.