| FatedReality said: I know the Falcons loss on paper looks worse because they were up by so much, but I still feel like the Hawks loss to the Pats in Superbowl 49 was still worse. The Hawks were RIGHT there and literally needed 2 yards to end the game. The fact they couldn't get it done and literally threw away the game is still the worse IMO. Especially when you consider the Hawks were about to be one of the few teams to win back to back. |
Gonna disagree there. The slant call was absolutely idiotic (passing wasn't inherently a dumb idea, but it should have been a fade or corner), but it's just one single call. Add that to the fact that Seattle was extremely fortunate to be in that situation in the first place from what up until last Sunday was the most ridiculous catch in Super Bowl history, and it essentially amounts to throwing away a game that you probably shouldn't have won anyway with a single dumb call. Which is still terrible (it is a Super Bowl), but Atlanta's situation, which is making at least half a dozen terrible playcalls/otherwise stupid decisions and blowing a 25 point lead which you absolutely deserved, is somehow orders of magnitude worse.
Personally, I'd argue the external circumstances surrounding the Falcons make things worse too. Yeah, the Seahawks could have been back to back champs, but the Falcons were on the cusp of winning their first championship ever, and then proceeded to choke away a huge lead just like they did the last time they got eliminated from the playoffs (2012 NFC Championship). On top of that, Atlanta is just such a title deprived town, that having another championship failure is expected at this point. At least Seattle has won a major sports championship in the past twenty years. Atlanta hasn't won anything since the Braves in the 1990s.
