The Atlanta Falcons are kings (when it doesn't matter)

The Atlanta Falcons avoided an epic Falcons-ing in Week 17. In front of a national audience on Monday Night Football, they raced out to a 21-0 halftime lead against the playoff-bound Los Angeles Rams. That promptly dissolved into a 24-24 tie in the fourth quarter thanks to mistakes like a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown and an offsides penalty that wiped out a fumble recovery in their own territory.

Fortunately for head coach Raheem Morris (and his job security), Atlanta's defense generated a couple clutch stops and gutted out a 27-24 win. And, thus, they bathed in a new, less frustrating (but still confusing) form of Falcons-ing. Winning the games that don't matter.

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Since 2018, Atlanta has nearly a full season's worth of games played whilst mathematically eliminated from the postseason. And that's when they look like a playoff team.

Because, as freelance writer Alan Cole pointed out on BlueSky, the Falcons show up when there's nothing but pride on the line.

That record is 12-4 now (assuming we're counting a Week 15 win over the Cardinals as coming slightly after a Vikings win in Miami eliminated Atlanta from contention by virtue of finishing first). A .750 winning percentage is only .003 points lower than Patrick Mahomes' record as a regular season starter (95-31). With the playoffs out of reach, Atlanta turns into the prime version of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Those games weren't solely against a lineup of scrubs, either. The Rams have a case as the NFC's top team in 2025. After being eliminated from the postseason in Week 14, Atlanta came back in Week 15 to extend the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' spiral down from 6-2 to 7-9. In 2022 they beat Tom Brady and the NFC South champion Buccaneers in Week 18 (albeit in a game that featured entirely too much Kyle Trask for anyone's liking). In 2019 they beat a San Francisco 49ers team en route to a Super Bowl.

In a landscape where late season games are increasingly tough to predict, Atlanta has shucked off the malaise of missing the playoffs -- which it has for the last eight seasons -- and found something to rally around. That's not going to lead to any banners being hung at the Mercedes-Benz Dome. It will keep fans around through January, however. Even without a viable path to the Super Bowl on the horizon.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Atlanta Falcons are kings (when it doesn't matter)