HOUSTON — Poor Atlanta. The Falcons have never won a Super Bowl and now must go through Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in order to do so.
They have been a NFL franchise for precisely as long as there have been Super Bowls — 51 mostly dreadful years. They were bad on the field, terrible off it and jinxed in many ways.
They did not even have a Pro Football Hall of Famer to count as their own until Deion Sanders made it in 2011. He played five seasons in Atlanta, then fled as a free agent.
This is the franchise that traded Brett Favre to Green Bay and lost Michael Vick to jail. Its 51-year record is a combined 341-437-6.
Atlanta can redeem that half-century of sorrow by upsetting the Patriots Sunday. If not, the Falcons might just slink back into ignominy as did their Dirty Birds team; Atlanta’s only previous Super Bowl team, drubbed 34-19 by Denver, followed that breakthrough season by slinking to 5-11 in 1999.
Bill Fralic, Penn Hills native and proud Pitt alum, saw some of the bad times in Atlanta up front as an All-Pro guard from 1985-92. He spent three more seasons as the team’s radio color commentator. In his eight seasons playing for the Falcons, they made the playoffs once; more common were seasons with 3, 4 and 5 wins.
Tragedy took different turns during his time with the Falcons. “Within the course of a 12-month period I actually lost a few teammates,” Fralic said.
Two teammates died in separate car crashes in 1989 and another died of a drug overdose during the 1988 season.
Off and on the field, “We didn’t have much success when I was there,” Fralic said.
He sees better days ahead after this season as the Falcons try to reduce the number of NFL teams who have never won a Super Bowl by one. Fralic believes they can turn it around in a big way, as the pro football team did back in his native Pittsburgh.
“It was before my day, but I would imagine it was like the Steelers,” said Fralic, who lives in suburban Atlanta where he runs Bill Fralic Insurance Services. “The Falcons, for their first 40-some seasons, are similar. I mean that in no disrespect to anybody whether it’s down here or up there.
“From my perspective on the playing field, the loses were pretty dismal. That’s the nature of the beast. Nobody in their teens right now would think the Steelers had dark days, and they’ve had a hell of a run.
“There are teams that haven’t sniffed a Super Bowl; this is the Falcons’ second.”
And maybe the good times will last for them. They have the quarterback who should be the NFL’s most valuable player in Matt Ryan, one of its great receivers in Julio Jones, a 1,000-yard rusher in Devonta Freeman, and the league’s most successful pass-rusher in linebacker Vic Beasley Jr., who had 15.5 sacks.
“I’ve been in Atlanta nine years … so it has been a little while since we’ve been back here but we’re all excited to be here,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. (Eric Gay/Associated Press)“I’m real happy for the city of Atlanta, for sure,” said Ryan, who has seen enough ups and downs with the Falcons. “I’ve been in Atlanta nine years … so it has been a little while since we’ve been back here but we’re all excited to be here.”
They brought along a good luck charm in Coutney Upshaw. You remember him. Ben Roethlisberger surely does. The former Ravens linebacker hit him so hard in a 2014 game in Baltimore that the Steelers quarterback said he lost his breath.
Success follows Upshaw around. He played for two national championship teams in Alabama and earned a Super Bowl ring in Baltimore. He joined the Falcons this year as a free agent.
“It never gets old to win a championship,” said Upshaw, going for his fourth.
Maybe Upshaw along with the young Falcons stars will get over that hump and end half a century of mostly woe. It once looked that way when another young quarterback joined them.
Matt Schaub was born in Pittsburgh and has family still there, including his grandmother. He joined the Falcons in 2004 as a third-round draft pick in the same class that produced Roethlisbeger, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers.
But like Favre before him, Atlanta dealt its promising third-year backup quarterback to Houston for two second-round draft choices in March 2007. Atlanta had its franchise quarterback in Michael Vick. One month later, Vick was accused of running an illegal dog-fighting ring, pled guilty and went to jail for 21 months. He never again played in Atlanta.
That’s the luck of the Falcons.
Schaub returned to them this season as the backup to Ryan and does not think the Falcons are jinxed.
“Our focus is on this year, this team,” he said. “I was fortunate, my rookie year we made it to the NFC championship game. We lost to Philadelphia in a tough game. We had a really good team, had all the pieces. We definitely felt we could get close but fell a little bit short.”
That stretched longer. Like the Dirty Birds, the 2004 Falcons followed their visit to the NFC title game with records of 8-8, 7-9 and 4-12 over the next three.
Fralic believes better times are ahead under billionaire owner Arthur Blank, Home Depot’s founder.
“It seems he now wants part of his legacy to being a great team owner. I think he’s figured out how to build a team, and as this year shows, he’s done a heck of a job in that direction.”
One thing about the Atlanta Falcons, though, the good times rarely last.
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette.
First Published: February 3, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
