To commemorate another successful championship season for our New England Patriots, I must give a nod to the latest Super Bowl victim. They join the other birds of Philadelphia and Seattle, plus their former division rival the L.A. Rams, and current NFC South foe Carolina.

The time has come to write the eulogy for the entity that was the 2016 Atlanta Falcons. So close, they came to winning it all, and yet they wound up joining the Braves of 1991, 1996, and 1999. And of course, they join the only other Falcons team to reach the Big Game; the 1998 Atlanta Falcons, who are referred to as the “Dirty Birds.”

By comparison, the 2016 Falcons were nowhere near the same level that the “Dirty Birds” were. Rather, they were the “Flying Birds.” They had an MVP quarterback helming their championship aspirations in Matt Ryan, who in his college days represented a different breed of bird; more specifically, the Eagles of Boston College. He dazzled fans to the point of making former Falcons standouts Jeff George and Chris Chandler blush.

On game day against our New England heroes, the “Flying Birds” put up a valiant fight, unlike their “Dirty Bird” predecessors that stood no chance against the almighty John Elway and the Denver Broncos. Whenever he could throw the ball, Ryan pretty much got what he wanted, getting himself a pair of touchdowns. But moreover, the Falcons improving defense put a stamp on their dominant efforts, scoring a pick six late in the first half, and by the third quarter, boasted a 25-point lead.

For what it was worth, the aura of Tom Brady, even in New England’s darkest hour of their season, was still felt in their show of hope. Even as points became hard to come by, long drives by the New England’s offense, combined with conservative play-calling on the sideline that led to short Falcons possessions, would compound over time to an exhausted, fume-running defense that the Patriots would pounce on.

Try as they might, the Falcons had no answer, and no help from even the higher forces that once stood against those Patriots in the famous battles with the New York Giants. As soon as the ball in James White’s hands crossed the goal-line, it put the exclamation point at the end of another chapter in this endless horror novel, describing a team from a city most have come to call Loserville. Not only that, but it has been labeled the premier fair-weather fan-base city in the country.

Yeah, it’s that bad for the city of peaches, barbeque, and college football.

And if you want to challenge me on that, let me ask you: what about that 1995 Atlanta Braves championship? Real baseball fans were still gutted by the strike of the previous year, and they consider those immediate fallout seasons afterwards as non-existent. Even the 1996 Summer Olympics were oh-so forgettable, to the point that the corporate-stained legacy can be considered a factor as to why the Games have yet to return to this country. Did I also forget to mention they’re the only city to lose not one, but two NHL teams?

Oh, and let’s not forget about a fellow named Al Horford, who even after an Eastern Conference finals run in 2015, chose instead to go to a Boston Celtics club that he’s helped to vast improvement and contending for the top seed in the East. Yeah, he knows where winners are made, and Atlanta isn’t it.

Through all of this, the one thing going for Atlanta at the moment is the fact that they did win the last game ever played in the Georgia Dome, unlike the Braves during their last Fulton County Stadium date in the 1996 World Series, where they were shut out by the New York Yankees playoff ace Andy Pettitte. On the other hand, the loser of the Super Bowl often fails to make playoffs the next year, like fans saw with Carolina this season.
See you guys in Foxboro next year when we raise the banner.