A Victory Which Left No Doubt

The Atlanta Falcons, for only the second time in franchise history, are going to the Super Bowl.

In an NFC Championship contest in which the outcome was decided about as soon as it began, the Falcons made quick work of an overmatched Green Bay Packers team Sunday afternoon and will now face the New England Patriots on February 5.

While I knew Atlanta had a strong chance to advance, the most surprising part was how easy the Falcons made it look. Yes, Green Bay was devastated by injuries, but many of those injuries were a factor the previous week when the Packers defeated the NFC’s No. 1 seeded Dallas Cowboys.

Not that it would have made any difference in the end the way this game played out, but weren’t you also surprised that Green Bay decided to give Atlanta the football to start the contest? The Packers’ best weapon was their offense led by all pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

The Falcons, meanwhile, had scored first possession touchdowns for several consecutive games. Green Bay’s defense was going to have a tough time slowing down Atlanta. Why not put Rodgers on the field first and see if you could take a lead? It’s always better to play in front, even if it’s by just three or seven points.

The Packer coaches decided to do the opposite, however, and what played out was a sign of things to come. Green Bay simply could not stop the Falcons and never found a way to do so the entire game.

Even with a star quarterback like Rodgers, whose insurance company commercials ironically played throughout his team’s beat down, cannot work miracles when your defense is unable to stop the opposition. Even on Atlanta’s first drive of the game, the Falcons were in several third down situations, but no down and distance seemed to matter for this contest.

We’ll get into the actual Super Bowl matchup with the Patriots more in next week’s column, but it’s worth noting now that no one should expect New England’s defense to be so fragile. The Patriot coaching brain trust will find a way to at least slow down Atlanta enough to make it a close game.

It was a fitting farewell, however, to the Georgia Dome. It’s still hard to believe the building is set to be torn down within a couple of months. I believe I heard the final event inside the building is scheduled for March. I first visited the Georgia Dome in August 1993 for a Falcon preseason game where I sat in the next-to-last row from the top. I remember the building seemed to be moving. Of course, it could have just been my uneasiness with heights.

To be honest, I think the Georgia Dome, which I last entered a few years ago for a Georgia State football game, would have been fine for several more years, decades even, but new is the name of the game when it comes to NFL stadiums (except for New Orleans which continues to play in the Superdome.)

It would have been a shame, however, for the final game played by the Falcons to have been a loss. It was far from that, however, as Atlanta sent the Georgia Dome out in fine, memorable fashion.

And while rain poured down outside (and caused even more tragic circumstances for our Georgia neighbors further South), fans inside the Dome Sunday afternoon witnessed history as the Falcons, on this occasion at least, more than lived up to expectations.

Now the challenge will be to play to that level one more time against arguably the best quarterback and best head coach in NFL history. It should be quite a contest. We’ll break it down next week. For now, let’s enjoy this victory for a few more days.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.