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Good Morning Football Predicts Falcons to Miss Playoffs
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is hoping to lead the franchise back to the playoffs in his first season as the starter. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons have not had a winning season since 2017, when they went 10-6, and have not reached the postseason since that year.

The Falcons looked ready to do it last year, roaring out to a 6-3 start with a two-game lead in the division. However, they ultimately faltered, going 2-6 to finish the season and missed the playoffs for the seventh year in a row. Good Morning Football analysts Jamie Erdahl, Manti Te'o and Kyle Brandt made their NFC playoff predictions on Tuesday, and all three of them believe the Falcons will once again fail to reach the postseason in 2025.

What was not included was the Artificial Intelligence’s prediction part of the video. Axel, who is the show’s AI, predicted that the Atlanta Falcons not only make the playoffs this upcoming season, but also win the division. How the AI works is the hosts of the show put queries into a computer and asked it to generate and predict which teams would make the playoffs.

Falcons fans will hope that the computer’s prediction is correct over that of the other three. 

While the three hosts did not outright explain why they are not choosing Atlanta to make the playoffs, it makes sense for people to be weary. However, the Falcons did a lot to improve, so it is not a stretch to think that a team that was one game out of the playoffs last year can make it this year.

The Falcons finished 31st in the NFL in sacks in 2024, and Atlanta went all in to fix this. They fired first-time defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, and brought back Jeff Ulbrich, who was with the team from 2015 to 2020. During his time as defensive coordinator with New York (2021-24), the Jets finished top 10 in sacks three times. 

In free agency, the Falcons signed Leonard Floyd, a player who hasn’t had fewer than 8.5 sacks since 2019.

In the draft, they double-dipped at pass rusher in the first round, selecting linebacker Jalon Walker 15th overall, and then trading back up to select James Pearce Jr. 26th overall. Safety Xavier Watts and defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. were also selected by the Falcons and are slated to start Week 1

A revamped defense and Michael Penix Jr. with a full offseason of reps with the starters are Atlanta’s two major selling points to be a good team in 2025. While the analysts don’t agree, the computer program says that the Falcons will win the division this year. 

More From Atlanta Falcons on SI


This article first appeared on Atlanta Falcons on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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