By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

I’m from Atlanta so I might be too close to this situation.

I’ve always been a Falcons fan and I’ve always felt they would not win a Super Bowl in my lifetime. Their doing a great job proving me right, in my humble opinion.

As you know, Atlanta fired the Head Coach and General Manager after the season ended. That was a great move, if they hire the right people to replace them.

They finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year. Then, they hired Matt Ryan as the team’s first-ever President of Football. He’s now the leader for hiring the new GM and Head Coach.

As you probably already know, Atlanta hired Kevin Stefanski as the new head coach.

Stefanski, 43, was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 2020-25, leading them to the playoffs after the ’20 and ’23 seasons.

He was named coach of the year in each of those playoff seasons. He previously served as the offensive coordinator for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, where he worked with Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins in 2018-19.

I have to point out that the Browns finished 5-12 this past season and 3-14 in 2024.

In his six years in Cleveland, he had winning seasons twice. His overall record was 45-56. I’m not a huge fan of hiring coaches that were unsuccessful in their previous position.

I’m not sure why Atlanta rushed to hire Stefanski. Buffalo just fired Sean McDermott after they lost in the divisional round of the playoffs.

The Bills were 12-5 this season and 13-4 in 2024. In McDermott’s nine seasons in Buffalo, they went to the playoffs eight times. They won their division five consecutive times and his record is 98-50. I believe he would have been a much better hire.

“We’re thrilled to land a lead-by-example leader in Kevin Stefanski who brings a clear vision for his staff, our team and a closely aligned focus on building this team on fundamentals, toughness and active collaboration with every area of the football operation,” Matt Ryan, Falcons president of football, said in a team statement.

“Coach Stefanski is a team-first leader who puts a premium on accountability for everyone and a player-driven culture. His experience in Cleveland and Minnesota has given him a great understanding of the importance of working in sync with scouting, personnel and the rest of the football staff to maximize talent across the roster and in doing everything possible to put our players in the best position to succeed.”

“Kevin’s style of leadership, combined with the staff and infrastructure in place here in Atlanta, gives us confidence in our shared vision for the team and we are excited to have him as the leader of our football team.”

Ryan has to make this sound like he did a great job by hiring him. I grade this coaching hire as an F. I’ll revisit this in a couple of years and I can admit if I’m wrong.

One obvious weakness Atlanta has is quarterback. Starter Michael Penix Jr. tore his ACL in Week 11. I believe he will miss all of next season. This is his third ACL tear because he suffered the same injury in 2018 and 2020 when he was at Indiana.

He was inconsistent before the injury and now we do not know if he will be the same player when he returns.

The other option is Kirk Cousins and he will turn 38 before the season. He also has not played well since coming to Atlanta. Atlanta still has to hire a general manager.