Raheem Morris is entering a pivotal season where failure may mean being two-and-done

An eight season playoff drought. That’s what the Atlanta Falcons are staring at if they don’t turn the 2025-2026 season into a successful one. And while the end of next season is still a little under a year away, I get the sense that some front office and coaching staff figures could be heading out the door should the team not make the postseason again.

One of them is general manager Terry Fontenot, and we here at The Falcoholic had conversations regarding Fontenot’s future with Atlanta after the end of last season. Our take was that the signing of Kirk Cousins, the lack of a playoff berth in his tenure, and the violation of the NFL’s tampering policy that resulted in a forfeiture of our fifth round pick this draft as the main factors that could contribute to Fontenot getting the boot. For now, Fontenot’s job seems to be secure for another year.

That leaves Raheem Morris. Oftentimes for teams, the head coach and general manager’s futures have gone hand-in-hand. Examples include former head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke being fired by the 49ers after tying a franchise worst 2-14 record in 2016, or when former head coach Hue Jackson and Sashi Brown were fired after their winless 2017 season in Cleveland (Brown was fired after Week 13). While that hasn’t always been the case for the Falcons under Blank, there’s cause for concern if you’re head coach Raheem Morris and Atlanta doesn’t deliver a playoff clinching season in 2025.

Throughout the season, Morris’ head was called for many times by fans, figuratively speaking, of course. This was due to several factors, but a few we can narrow down were Morris’ putrid clock management against Washington at the end of both halves, his weekly ambiguous press conferences, and his commitment to a struggling Kirk Cousins, although there may have been pressure from the front office and Blank to keep Cousins on the field.

These factors led to a tumultuous first year as head coach for Morris, and partly because he’s mostly still an unproven head coach sitting at a .382 win percentage, it seems like a “now or never” moment for Morris to prove that he’s what this team needs for the future.

Luckily for Morris, he has a team owner and president who’s known to run one of the most loyal front offices in the league. But with Arthur Smith getting just three years after a full-scale teardown in his first two years, should Morris be concerned for his future?

Head coaching tenures under Arthur Blank

The head coach is easily one of the most volatile positions in the league, as every year at least a handful and sometimes up to a quarter of the league getting the axe. Under owner Arthur Blank and President Rich McKay, the team has been very generous with coach firings since Blank assumed ownership in 2002. Since that time, the Falcons have fired five coaches, and have hired six, which may sound like a high number but compared to the seven fired and nine hired head coaches the Cleveland Browns racked up in those 22 years, I’d say Atlanta is pretty charitable with head coaching tenures.

The shortest tenure under Blank was former head coach Bobby Petrino, who only coached the team for thirteen games before resigning after our 34-14 loss to the Saints on Monday Night Football. The 13 game tenure was not the fault of Blank and had circumstances even Petrino couldn’t see coming, as this was the year former quarterback Michael Vick was sent to prison for his involvement in an illegal dog fighting ring, leaving Petrino to operate with journeyman quarterbacks Byron Leftwitch, Chris Redman, and Joey Harrington, all players who could not fill the void of a dynamic signal caller like Vick. Still, Petrino left the team, not the other way around.

The longest tenure for a head coach under Blank was Mike Smith, who was hired in 2008 and fired after Week 17 of the 2014 season, a total of 7 years with the team which is honestly a pretty lengthy tenure for a head coach by today’s NFL standards. I’m not sure if it was because I was a kid and time just went by slower, but it definitely felt like Smith was the coach for forever. Smith, who lead Atlanta to five winning seasons and an NFC Championship berth, had a successful run as coach, albeit with quite the supporting cast of players behind him.

Perhaps where Blank’s generosity can be seen the most is during current Commanders head coach Dan Quinn’s tenure in Atlanta. Quinn was the coach for six seasons, and while having initial success in his second year leading Atlanta to a Super Bowl appearance, Quinn and the team struggled to rebound in the subsequent years, leading to a disappointing second round playoff exit in the 2017 season and two straight losing seasons until he was ultimately fired after going 0-5 in the midst of his third straight losing season in 2020.

The shortest tenure in which Blank both hired and fired a coach was Jim Mora from 2004 to 2006, and this would have stood if not for Blank hiring and firing Arthur Smith after three straight 7-10 seasons, which what I believe has now started a change in front office mindset. The talent is in the building and it has been for at least a couple of years.

This, combined with the Falcons playoff drought, is why management I believe has taken the approach of “whoever we hire needs to come in and cultivate a winning attitude now,” instead of the traditional “let’s give him a few years to develop and build this team.” Smith’s tenure can be characterized as a stagnant team identity crisis, and it was pretty apparent that he was not the future of Atlanta after the Marcus Mariota year, though he had got one more year with major free agency spending to try to dispel that. I think the same could start being tossed around for Morris should he not change his approach in 2025 and/or enjoy more success.

Why Raheem Morris could be two and done

There are so many things that go into a successful head coaching tenure, and while most of the time it boils down to a win-loss record, it also depends on locker room morale, sideline presence, taking accountability, and for better or worse, popularity with the fan base. It’s one of the reasons Dan Campbell kept his job in Detroit after his first two seasons ending up in 3-13-1 and 9-8 records.

So many coaches would have been let go after that first three win year, and especially after the team started 1-6 the second year, and while it did help that Detroit turned it around and improved to 9-8 albeit missing the playoffs, Campbell being a fan favorite and highly regarded in the locker room and by ownership helped his case for one more year in Detroit, and allowed ownership to envision a future with him.

For Morris, I fear he doesn’t have the fans on his side even if Blank is in his corner, owing to the early lack of success in Atlanta, difficulty defending his decisions, and sub .400 overall head coaching record, I predict Morris’ seat to be hotter than he’d like for his second season. Not to mention, Blank and management interviewed some of the most sought after free agent coaches of 2024, including Mike Vrabel, Jim Harbaugh, and six time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick. With this in mind, whatever finish Morris has thats short of a Super Bowl, Atlanta fans will always have a “what if...” mindset, casting a dark cloud over Morris’ tenure that he may not be able to outrun.

With a seventh straight season missing the playoffs, the second longest streak in Falcons history, Atlanta is desperate for change and fans want the talent on the field to translate into production more than ever. Being the face of a team is the biggest responsibility in sports, and as the head coach, a fanbase is always looking at Morris for answers and solutions.

While I don’t necessarily believe Morris is a bad coach by any stretch of the imagination, I feel like he must do more in 2025 not just with translating talent into wins, but also with his approach to media and fans to be able to give compelling answers when questions arise or the team falls short. It’s one thing to have bad stretches and losses, but another to not be able to convincingly say how you’ll get the Falcons through and out of them.

Should Morris deliver another uninspiring year, will Blank and management see to it that he stay through 2026, or will they pivot faster than normal to a new coaching staff? Let us know what you think in the comments below!