The Atlanta Falcons are an American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are members of the South division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1966, and have compiled an all-time record of 337 wins, 436 losses, and 6 ties. The team has won the NFC West championship twice in 1980 and 1998 and the NFC South championship 4 times in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2016. The Falcons have appeared in two Super Bowls, losing both times; their first appearance was in Super Bowl XXXIII, with the Falcons falling to the Denver Broncos 19–34, and the second was in Super Bowl LI, where the Falcons fell to the New England Patriots 28–34 in overtime.[1]
There have been 18 head coaches for the Falcons franchise, 13 serving full-time. Among full-time head coaches, Mike Smith is the Falcons' winningest and longest tenured head coach, with a 66–46 regular season record. Under Smith's leadership, the team attained consecutive winning seasons (11–5 in 2008 and 9–7 in 2009), consecutive playoff appearances (2010 and 2011), and consecutive seasons with 10 wins or more (also in 2010 and 2011) for the first time in franchise history. Also, Smith is the only Falcons coach to win 2 divisional titles (NFC South, 2010 and 2012).
# | Number of coaches[N 1] |
Yrs | Years coached |
First | First season coached |
Last | Last season coached |
GC | Games Coached |
W | Wins |
L | Loses |
T | Ties |
Win% | Win – Loss percentage |
‡ | Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player |
* | Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Falcons |
# | Image | Name | Term[N 2] | Regular season | Playoffs | Accomplishments | Ref. | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yrs | First | Last | GC | W | L | T | Win% | GC | W | L | |||||
1 | Norb Hecker* | 3 | 1966 | 1968[N 3] | 31 | 4 | 26 | 1 | .133 | — | [2] | ||||
2 | Norm Van Brocklin‡ | 7 | 1968[N 3] | 1974[N 4] | 89 | 37 | 49 | 3 | .430 | — | [3] | ||||
3 | Marion Campbell[N 5] | 3 | 1974[N 4] | 1976[N 6] | 25 | 6 | 19 | 0 | .240 | — | [4] | ||||
4 | Pat Peppler* | 1 | 1976[N 6] | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | .333 | — | [5] | |||||
5 | Leeman Bennett | 6 | 1977 | 1982 | 87 | 46 | 41 | 0 | .529 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 NFC West Championship (1978) 3 Playoff Berths 2 UPI NFL Coach of the Year Awards (1977, 1980) |
[6] | |
6 | Dan Henning | 4 | 1983 | 1986 | 64 | 22 | 41 | 1 | .352 | — | [7] | ||||
– | Marion Campbell[N 5] | 3 | 1987 | 1989[N 7] | 43 | 11 | 32 | 0 | .256 | — | [4] | ||||
7 | Jim Hanifan | 1 | 1989[N 7] | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | [8] | |||||
8 | Jerry Glanville | 4 | 1990 | 1993 | 64 | 27 | 37 | 0 | .422 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 Playoff Berth | [9] | |
9 | June Jones | 3 | 1994 | 1996 | 48 | 19 | 29 | 0 | .396 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 Playoff Berth | [10] | |
10 | Dan Reeves | 7 | 1997 | 2003[N 8] | 109 | 49 | 59 | 1 | .454 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 NFC Championship (1998) 1 NFC South Championship (1998) 2 Playoff Berths 1 AP NFL Coach of the Year Award (1998) |
[11] | |
11 | Wade Phillips | 1 | 2003[N 8] | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | — | [12] | |||||
12 | Jim L. Mora | 3 | 2004 | 2006 | 48 | 26 | 22 | 0 | .542 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 NFC South Championship (2004) 1 Playoff Berth |
[13] | |
13 | Bobby Petrino* | 1 | 2007[N 9] | 13 | 3 | 10 | 0 | .231 | — | [14] | |||||
14 | Emmitt Thomas* ‡ | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | — | [15] | ||||||
15 | Mike Smith* | 7 | 2008 | 2014 | 112 | 66 | 46 | 0 | .589 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 NFC South Championships (2010, 2012) 4 Playoff Berths 1 AP NFL Coach of the Year Award (2008)[16] |
[17] | |
16 | Dan Quinn | 6 | 2015 | 2020[N 10] | 85 | 43 | 42 | 0 | .506 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 NFC Championship (2016) 1 NFC South Championship (2016) 2 Playoff Berths |
[18] | |
17 | Raheem Morris | 1 | 2020[N 10] | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | .364 | — | [19] | |||||
18 | Arthur Smith* | 3 | 2021 | 2023 | 51 | 21 | 30 | 0 | .412 | — | [20] | ||||
– | Raheem Morris | 0 | 2024–present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | — | [19] |