The Atlanta Falcons are currently an unmitigated disaster. Things really haven't looked good since they held a 28-3 lead into the 3rd quarter in Super Bowl LI and Tom Brady and the Patriots summarily dispatched them and ultimately broke the franchise.
It's all been downhill since.
The Falcons had a chance to hire all-time great head coach Bill Belichick this offseason. They passed. Another in a long line of symptoms of a dysfunctional franchise.
Further personnel decisions over the last several years have been questionable at best. Drafting a quarterback with injury concerns high in the draft while signing a veteran free agent QB to a max-level contract, coming off a season-ending Achilles injury in late October.
Dysfunction has been the story of the franchise for most of its history. There were some signs of brilliance, however. In 1991, under coach Jerry Glanville, and led by future Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, the Falcons went 10-6 and finished tied for 2nd in the NFC West behind the perennial juggernaut San Francisco 49ers.
They beat division foe New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card Round and lost to eventual Super Bowl XXVI champion Washington Redskins the next week. A few years later, a couple more coaches and a few drastic roster reconstructions later, coach Dan Reeves survived a late-season heart attack scare and led the "Dirty Birds" to their first Super Bowl appearance, losing to Reeves's former team the Denver Broncos.
In 1991, Glanville butted heads with a second-round draft pick. That rookie quarterback was eventually dealt to Green Bay before the next season and went on to a Hall of Fame career. Brett Favre.
Indeed, Glanville was an iconoclast in the NFL—he even cameoed in Confederate Railroad's "Queen of Memphis" video. He was fired from the Falcons soon after that appearance though went on to an entertaining career as a color commentator. Eventually he became a coach again in college and various spring leagues.
Aside from the Favre affair, the Falcons looked like they were building a culture, just as Glanville's Houston Oilers had been a few years earlier, before he got fired.
Perhaps it was Glanville. Perhaps it was coincidence. I can't say.
The culture was real, however. The Falcons of that era not only grabbed fans of country music—the aforementioned Georgia-based Confederate Railroad and Travis Tritt were big supporters—but also fans of the tour de force rapper of that era, M.C. Hammer (who, at one time, was the Executive VP for the Oakland A's—but that's another story for another day).
People came together. Cultures meshed into one. It was beautiful.
I was a fan—big fan—for a brief window.
Yet, the story of the Falcons franchise is one of "what could have been…" Disappointing to be a fan, even when they showed signs of brilliance over the years.
That 1991 season was an anomaly, as were their Super Bowl runs.
I don't know football as well as Coach Glanville or any of the other head coaches that have come around in the NFL, but I do know culture. I know what works on a team and inside a business. I've been a part of some great teams and wonderful businesses.
More importantly, I know what doesn't work. I've been on some terrible teams and inside some awful places to work.
I'm not sure how keyed into culture most coaches in the NFL are. Glanville famously said that the "N.F.L. stands for Not For Long." Most coaches don't last, even the "good" ones.
Which makes it even more puzzling that Bill Belichick, the one coach with the clear philosophy and track-record on how "culture" affects an organization, was given short shrift by not only the Falcons, but by 30 other teams vying to win the next Super Bowl.
Most folks—in sports or business or regular life—don't analyze how or why their culture succeeds or fails. I've made it a practice to figure it out over the last 20 years.
I'm no Belichick by any means, either, though I'd like to say I can help anyone and everyone when it comes to figuring out culture within an organization. Sadly that's not true.
However, thanks to some help from many other coaches over the years, it helped me realize that one of my talents is knowing that if I can't help you, I am able to direct you to someone who can.
Free 30 minute call to figure it out ….
As always,
Brian
