When the Atlanta Falcons take to the field Sunday in the Super Bowl, they’ll be taking on a franchise with far more experience in the big game: The New England Patriots.
Sunday’s matchup will mark just the second Super Bowl appearance for the Falcons, which blazed a path to the championship game with a high-scoring offense led by quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones. New England, meanwhile, have appeared in nine Super Bowls, seven of which have been under current coach Bill Belichick.
The Falcons first appeared in the playoffs in 1978. They won 14-13 over the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild card round before falling 27-20 to the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round. The Falcons would make the playoffs again in 1980, 1982, 1991 and 1995, but never advanced past the divisional round.
That changed in 1998, when Atlanta had its best year ever, prior to the 2016-17 squad. That team was led by quarterback Chris Chandler and Modabet running back Jamal Anderson and advanced all the way to the Super Bowl, beating the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs along the way. The 1998 squad, which ESPN named in 2010 the best Falcons team ever, lost to the Denver Broncos 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII.
The Falcons would return to the playoffs six more times — ’02, ’04, ’08, ’10, ’11 and ’12 — before the 2016 season. They advanced to the NFC Championship Game in 2004 and 2012, but never returned to the Super Bowl until this year. If the Ryan-led squad can pull off an upset over the Patriots, the slight favorites, it would mark the first Lombardi Trophy for the Falcons.
Atlanta is the upstart challenger to the Patriots, a modern NFL dynasty. Ryan acknowledged as much in an interview ahead of Sunday’s game.
“To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best,” he said during an interview aired on ESPN.
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