Changing coach and GM only start of what Falcons franchise needs

But that surely was their undoing. Morris was hired in January 2024 to lift a roster thought to be capable of competing at the highest levels into the postseason. He went 8-9 in both of his seasons, his tenure marked by lopsided defeats and a number of instances of questionable game management.

And, Fontenot, while he did oversee construction of a playoff-worthy roster, did not ultimately do enough to reach the standard, either.

But the next step for Blank is probably even more painful, and that is to look at his own performance.

With the four-game winning streak to end the season, the Falcons’ record with Blank as the owner is now 194-194-1. The Falcons have not made the playoffs in eight years — and suffered a losing record in each.

And it’s not like they’ve had the bad luck of playing in the same division with a future Hall of Fame quarterback.

The NFC South has been the weakest division in the NFL for much of this eight-year dry spell. The Falcons would have gotten in this year with nine wins.

In the past two years, 20 of the league’s 32 teams have won nine games at least once. With the salary cap, draft and free agency, teams really shouldn’t lose as consistently as the Falcons have managed to do.

And, yes, you usually need the right quarterback to win consistently and the Falcons haven’t found a true successor to Matt Ryan. But, since Ryan passed his peak, the Falcons haven’t even won inconsistently.

Joe Flacco led the Browns to the playoffs in 2023 at the age of 38. The Vikings won 14 games in 2024 with Sam Darnold, who (at least until last season) was nobody’s idea of a franchise quarterback.

And, it should be pointed out, the Falcons did sign what they thought to be a franchise quarterback in Kirk Cousins.

There are questions bigger than who the next coach and the next GM should be, one of them being who should be the one to make those hires.

This is worth noting.

After the firing of Arthur Smith following the 2023 season, Blank and team CEO Rich McKay defended their hiring record, which has brought the Falcons Jim Mora, Bobby Petrino, Mike Smith, Dan Quinn, Arthur Smith and then Morris.

McKay pointed out that three of them had winning records (Mora, Arthur Smith and Quinn), one had gone to the Super Bowl (Quinn) and one was the franchise’s winningest coach (Mike Smith).

Blank attempted the verbal gymnastics of including the reprehensible Petrino among the “incredible human beings and great leaders” who have graced the Falcons’ sideline.

But they also said this: McKay said that in the previous 10 years, the process had changed in that it had become much slower, presumably enabling better decision making. Blank said that their experience in the coach-hiring process has given them “a greater understanding of what it takes to be a successful head coach in the National Football League.”

And yet all of that experience and extended search time led Blank and his team to hire Smith (21-30) and then Morris (16-18), the latter a coach whom Blank said he was assuming was “going to win a lot of games” but was so ineffective that he fired him after only two seasons.

What can Blank say now?

He, in fact, gave an answer Monday morning with news of a sweeping overhaul. In a letter to fans, he announced the creation of the position of president of football, a role that will have “final decision-making authority” for football matters, which would seem to include the impending coach/GM hires.

It is expected to be Ryan, who has been reported to be positioned to accept an executive position with the team.

Further, Rich McKay, Blank’s longtime confidant, has been moved out of his role as CEO of the Falcons and into an expanded role within AMBSE, Blank’s umbrella organization that includes the Falcons, Atlanta United and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It apparently ends McKay’s direct connection with the team.

Greg Beadles has been promoted from president to president/CEO, granting him oversight of business matters and collaborating with the president of football.

This follows a deep assessment of the organization conducted by a sports consultant, Sportsology Group.

If the change happens as stated, this would be a major step forward. Blank is due much credit for his willingness to invest in the franchise, but his (and McKay’s) record with the coach/GM hires mandates change.

Calling upon the beloved quarterback to save the day is always going to received well by fans and, beyond his record-setting play, Ryan is intelligent, observant and diligent. Broadly, two former players who made transitions similar to the one Ryan is expected to be attempting — John Lynch with the 49ers and John Elway with the Broncos — benefited their franchises.

But Ryan would have a lot to learn.

It’s a dynamic and hopeful change, one I wasn’t sure Blank would be willing to make.

A franchise whose history has been an annual failure to fulfill expectations