
TheAtlanta Falcons are a professionalAmerican football team based inAtlanta, Georgia. They are a member of theSouth Division of theNational Football Conference (NFC) in theNational Football League (NFL). The Falcons were founded on June 30, 1965, with the NFL awarding Atlanta a football team to prevent the franchise from joining the rivalAmerican Football League. NFL commissionerPete Rozelle granted ownership of the team to businessmanRankin Smith, beginning play in the1966 season as anexpansion team.[1][2] The name "Falcons" was suggested by high school teacher Julia Elliott through a 1965 contest.[3] Smith remained as the owner of the Falcons until his death in 1997, with ownership of the team then transferring to his son Taylor. Taylor Smith reached a preliminary agreement with businessmanArthur Blank to purchase the team on December 6, 2001. The sale was finalized on February 2, 2002, following a unanimous vote by NFL owners.[4] Since the team's inception, it has been based in Atlanta, playing their home games at theMercedes-Benz Stadium since 2017.[5] They previously played home games at theAtlanta–Fulton County Stadium (1966–1991) and theGeorgia Dome (1992–2016).[6][7] The Falcons began play in theEastern Conference of the NFL, before moving to theCoastal division in theWestern Conference. Following the 1970 NFL realignment, the team moved to theNFC West division.[8] The team moved for the third and final time to theNFC South division following the 2002 NFL realignment.[9]
Over their 59 seasons in the NFL, the Falcons have accumulated a record of 390 wins, 512 losses, and 6 ties.[10] A mark of the franchise's inconsistency is that they did not have consecutive seasons with better than .500 records until 2008 and 2009. They have also made theplayoffs fourteen times and have the seventh-worst playoff record in terms of win-loss percentage with 10 wins and 14 losses.[10] The Falcons appeared in twoSuper Bowl championships—Super Bowl XXXIII andSuper Bowl LI—losing to theDenver Broncos and theNew England Patriots, respectively. The Falcons have won theNFC Championship twice and a division title six times, winning theNFC West twice (1978 and1998) and the NFC South four times (2004,2010,2012 and2016).[11] The team currently has seventeen winning seasons, four tied seasons, and thirty-eight losing seasons.[12]
| Super Bowl champions * | Conference champions # | Division champions † | Wild Card berth ^ |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Postseason results | Awards | Head coach | Refs. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | W | L | T | |||||||||
| 1966 | 1966 | NFL | Eastern | — | 7th | 3 | 11 | 0 | Tommy Nobis (DROYTooltip National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award) | Norb Hecker | [13][14] | |
| 1967 | 1967 | NFL | Western | Coastal | 4th | 1 | 12 | 1 | [15] | |||
| 1968 | 1968 | NFL | Western | Coastal | 4th | 2 | 12 | 0 | Claude Humphrey (DROYTooltip National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award) | Norb Hecker (0–3) Norm Van Brocklin (2–9) | [16][17] | |
| 1969 | 1969 | NFL | Western | Coastal | 3rd | 6 | 8 | 0 | Norm Van Brocklin | [18] | ||
| 1970 | 1970 | NFL | NFC | West[a] | 3rd | 4 | 8 | 2 | [19] | |||
| 1971 | 1971 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 7 | 6 | 1 | [20] | |||
| 1972 | 1972 | NFL | NFC | West | 2nd | 7 | 7 | 0 | [21] | |||
| 1973 | 1973 | NFL | NFC | West | 2nd | 9 | 5 | 0 | [22] | |||
| 1974 | 1974 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 3 | 11 | 0 | Norm Van Brocklin (2–6) Marion Campbell (1–5) | [23] | ||
| 1975 | 1975 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 4 | 10 | 0 | Marion Campbell | [24] | ||
| 1976 | 1976 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 4 | 10 | 0 | Marion Campbell (1–4) Pat Peppler (3–6) | [25] | ||
| 1977 | 1977 | NFL | NFC | West | 2nd | 7 | 7 | 0 | Leeman Bennett | [26] | ||
| 1978[b] | 1978 | NFL | NFC | West | 2nd^ | 9 | 7 | 0 | WonWild Card playoffs (Eagles) 14–13 LostDivisional playoffs (atCowboys) 20–27 | [28] | ||
| 1979 | 1979 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 6 | 10 | 0 | [29] | |||
| 1980 | 1980 | NFL | NFC | West† | 1st† | 12 | 4 | 0 | LostDivisional playoffs (Cowboys) 27–30 | Buddy Curry (Co-DROYTooltip National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award) Al Richardson(Co-DROYTooltip National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award) | [30][31] | |
| 1981 | 1981 | NFL | NFC | West | 2nd | 7 | 9 | 0 | [32] | |||
| 1982 | 1982 | NFL | NFC | —[c] | 5th^[c] | 5 | 4 | 0 | LostFirst Round playoffs (atVikings) 24–30 | [34] | ||
| 1983 | 1983 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 7 | 9 | 0 | Dan Henning | [35] | ||
| 1984 | 1984 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 4 | 12 | 0 | [36] | |||
| 1985 | 1985 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 4 | 12 | 0 | [37] | |||
| 1986 | 1986 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 7 | 8 | 1 | [38] | |||
| 1987[d] | 1987 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 3 | 12 | 0 | Marion Campbell | [40] | ||
| 1988 | 1988 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 5 | 11 | 0 | [41] | |||
| 1989 | 1989 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 3 | 13 | 0 | Marion Campbell (3–9) Jim Hanifan (0–4) | [42] | ||
| 1990 | 1990 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 5 | 11 | 0 | Jerry Glanville | [43] | ||
| 1991 | 1991 | NFL | NFC | West | 2nd^ | 10 | 6 | 0 | WonWild Card playoffs (atSaints) 27–20 LostDivisional playoffs (atRedskins) 7–24 | [44] | ||
| 1992 | 1992 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 6 | 10 | 0 | [45] | |||
| 1993 | 1993 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 6 | 10 | 0 | [46] | |||
| 1994 | 1994 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 7 | 9 | 0 | June Jones | [47] | ||
| 1995 | 1995 | NFL | NFC | West | 2nd^ | 9 | 7 | 0 | LostWild Card playoffs (atPackers) 20–37 | [48] | ||
| 1996 | 1996 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 3 | 13 | 0 | [49] | |||
| 1997 | 1997 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 7 | 9 | 0 | Dan Reeves | [50] | ||
| 1998 | 1998 | NFL | NFC# | West† | 1st† | 14 | 2 | 0 | WonDivisional playoffs (49ers) 20–18 WonNFC Championship (atVikings) 30–27(OT) LostSuper Bowl XXXIII (vs.Broncos) 19–34 | Dan Reeves (COYTooltip National Football League Coach of the Year Award) | [51][52] | |
| 1999 | 1999 | NFL | NFC | West | 3rd | 5 | 11 | 0 | [53] | |||
| 2000 | 2000 | NFL | NFC | West | 5th | 4 | 12 | 0 | [54] | |||
| 2001 | 2001 | NFL | NFC | West | 4th | 7 | 9 | 0 | [55] | |||
| 2002 | 2002 | NFL | NFC | South[e] | 2nd^ | 9 | 6 | 1 | WonWild Card playoffs (atPackers) 27–7 LostDivisional playoffs (atEagles) 6–20 | [56] | ||
| 2003 | 2003 | NFL | NFC | South | 4th | 5 | 11 | 0 | Dan Reeves (3–10) Wade Phillips (2–1) | [57] | ||
| 2004 | 2004 | NFL | NFC | South† | 1st† | 11 | 5 | 0 | WonDivisional playoffs (Rams) 47–17 LostNFC Championship (atEagles) 10–27 | Jim L. Mora | [58] | |
| 2005 | 2005 | NFL | NFC | South | 3rd | 8 | 8 | 0 | [59] | |||
| 2006 | 2006 | NFL | NFC | South | 3rd | 7 | 9 | 0 | [60] | |||
| 2007 | 2007 | NFL | NFC | South | 4th | 4 | 12 | 0 | Bobby Petrino (3–10) Emmitt Thomas (1–2) | [61] | ||
| 2008 | 2008 | NFL | NFC | South | 2nd^ | 11 | 5 | 0 | LostWild Card playoffs (atCardinals) 24–30 | Matt Ryan (OROYTooltip National Football League Offensive Rookie of the Year Award) Mike Smith (COYTooltip National Football League Coach of the Year Award) | Mike Smith | [62][63] |
| 2009 | 2009 | NFL | NFC | South | 2nd | 9 | 7 | 0 | [64] | |||
| 2010 | 2010 | NFL | NFC | South† | 1st† | 13 | 3 | 0 | LostDivisional playoffs (Packers) 21–48 | [65] | ||
| 2011 | 2011 | NFL | NFC | South | 2nd^ | 10 | 6 | 0 | LostWild Card playoffs (atGiants) 2–24 | [66] | ||
| 2012 | 2012 | NFL | NFC | South† | 1st† | 13 | 3 | 0 | WonDivisional playoffs (Seahawks) 30–28 LostNFC Championship (49ers) 24–28 | [67] | ||
| 2013 | 2013 | NFL | NFC | South | 3rd | 4 | 12 | 0 | [68] | |||
| 2014 | 2014 | NFL | NFC | South | 3rd | 6 | 10 | 0 | [69] | |||
| 2015 | 2015 | NFL | NFC | South | 2nd | 8 | 8 | 0 | Dan Quinn | [70] | ||
| 2016 | 2016 | NFL | NFC# | South† | 1st† | 11 | 5 | 0 | WonDivisional playoffs (Seahawks) 36–20 WonNFC Championship (Packers) 44–21 LostSuper Bowl LI (vs.Patriots) 28–34(OT) | Matt Ryan (MVPTooltip National Football League Most Valuable Player Award), (OPOYTooltip National Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award) | [71][72] | |
| 2017 | 2017 | NFL | NFC | South | 3rd^ | 10 | 6 | 0 | WonWild Card playoffs (atRams) 26–13 LostDivisional playoffs (atEagles) 10–15 | [73] | ||
| 2018 | 2018 | NFL | NFC | South | 2nd | 7 | 9 | 0 | [74] | |||
| 2019 | 2019 | NFL | NFC | South | 2nd | 7 | 9 | 0 | [75] | |||
| 2020 | 2020 | NFL | NFC | South | 4th | 4 | 12 | 0 | Dan Quinn (0–5) Raheem Morris (4–7) | [76] | ||
| 2021[f] | 2021 | NFL | NFC | South | 3rd | 7 | 10 | 0 | Arthur Smith | [78] | ||
| 2022 | 2022 | NFL | NFC | South | 4th | 7 | 10 | 0 | [79] | |||
| 2023 | 2023 | NFL | NFC | South | 3rd | 7 | 10 | 0 | [80] | |||
| 2024 | 2024 | NFL | NFC | South | 2nd | 8 | 9 | 0 | Raheem Morris | [81] | ||
| Totals | 398 | 512 | 6 | All-time regular season record (1966–2024) | ||||||||
| 10 | 14 | — | All-time postseason record (1966–2024) | |||||||||
| 408 | 526 | 6 | All-time regular & postseason record (1966–2024) | |||||||||