Super Bowl LX is set, with the Seattle Seahawks facing the New England Patriots. Seattle took care of business against NFC North rival the Los Angeles Rams, while the Patriots stayed undefeated on the road this season with a win over the Denver Broncos.
It’s one of the most unpredictable Super Bowl matchups in quite some time. Neither team made the playoffs a year ago. Seattle finished 10-7 and just missed the postseason, while New England went 4-13 and never came close to contention.
Now both franchises are headed to the sport’s biggest stage under second-year head coaches — and, strangely enough, both named Mike. Mike Macdonald has delivered a rapid turnaround in Seattle in his first head-coaching job, while Mike Vrabel has done the same in New England after taking over a team he once played for.
There will be plenty of storylines surrounding Macdonald and Vrabel leading up to Super Bowl LX. But in Atlanta, there’s also one obvious angle: the Falcons are once again watching from home, left to wonder if they missed their chance at hiring either coach.
Falcons Miss Out On Super Bowl Head Coaches
After firing Arthur Smith following the 2023 season, the Falcons were searching for their next head coach. Smith went 21-30 in three seasons, and Atlanta was looking for stability after another stretch of underwhelming results.
The Falcons interviewed multiple candidates before ultimately hiring Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. Two of those were Vrabel and Macdonald. With both now heading to the Super Bowl, it has only added fuel to the “what-if” conversation in Atlanta.
“Two years later, now they’re in the Super Bowl. Turnarounds can happen very quick in the NFL ,” Fox 5 Atlanta’s Miles Garrett said while discussing the Falcons’ coaching decisions.
Morris lasted just two seasons in Atlanta, going 16-18, before Arthur Blank made a change .
“It was a little bit surprising the lack of clarity about the vision for the team,” Blank said on Jan. 8. “In any business, any industry, when you don’t have clarity around vision and about what you are trying to establish and trying to build, you’re going to end up with a lot of disparate parts with everybody moving in different directions. That means you are not only unsuccessful — or even partially unsuccessful — but very inefficient.”
The Falcons have since hired Morris’ replacement in former Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Why Did The Falcons Hire Raheem Morris?
Morris’ hiring raised eyebrows back in 2024, but the move came with familiarity. He previously served as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator in 2020 before taking over as the interim coach for 11 games that same season. He went 4-7 as interim head coach but was never truly considered for the full-time job, which eventually went to Smith.
Before his stint in Atlanta, Morris served as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-11, finishing 17-31.
Macdonald and Vrabel weren’t the only big names linked to the Falcons. Bill Belichick was also in the mix.
“Two years ago, Arthur Blank was very interested in hiring Bill Belichick,” Sports Talk Atlanta’s Chase Irle said. “He was his top target, but the people around him in the front office were able to convince him to pivot elsewhere out of fear for their own job security.”
Now it’s Stefanski’s job to bring stability to Atlanta — and prove the Falcons didn’t miss on another coach who ends up playing deep into January.
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