The all-consuming pressure to win is off the Atlanta Falcons now. Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff are gone, and if we take the players at their word, they were desperate to keep DQ and win some games for him. With that no longer being the case and the Falcons all but officially eliminated from the playoff picture, this team might be playing a little looser.
They’ll walk into an immediate challenge, albeit one that is less significant than anticipated. The Vikings are good one year and mediocre the next as a rule under Mike Zimmer, and they’re firmly in a mediocre year right now.