NFC Championship vs Packers (1998)

Lore & Background

The Falcons were founded on June 30, 1965, with the NFL awarding Atlanta a football team to prevent the franchise from joining the rival American Football League. NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle granted ownership of the team to businessman Rankin Smith, beginning play in the 1966 season as an expansion team. The name 'Falcons' was suggested by high school teacher Julia Elliott through a 1965 contest. Smith remained as the owner of the Falcons until his death in 1997, with ownership of the team then transferring to his son Taylor. Taylor Smith reached a preliminary agreement with businessman Arthur Blank to purchase the team on December 6, 2001. The sale was finalized on February 2, 2002, following a unanimous vote by NFL owners. Since the team's inception, it has been based in Atlanta, playing their home games at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium since 2017. They previously played home games at the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium (1966–1991) and the Georgia Dome (1992–2016). The Falcons began play in the Eastern Conference of the NFL, before moving to the Coastal division in the Western Conference. Following the 1970 NFL realignment, the team moved to the NFC West division. The team moved for the third and final time to the NFC South division following the 2002 NFL realignment.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the Georgia Dome was thick with humidity and anticipation as the clock ticked toward overtime. Drew Brees stood on the sideline, eyes locked on the field where his team had just turned over possession. The roar of the crowd shifted from a hopeful chant to a stunned silence as Brett Favre began to march the Packers downfield. Every step felt like an eternity until Ryan Longwell snapped the ball for the final kick. As the ball sailed through the uprights, the realization settled over Atlanta: they had come so close, yet the dream was deferred once again.

Reader's Guide

The Falcons have won the NFC Championship twice and a division title six times, winning the NFC West twice (1978 and 1998) and the NFC South four times (2004, 2010, 2012 and 2016). The team currently has seventeen winning seasons, four tied seasons, and thirty-eight losing seasons.

Did You Know?

• The Falcons appeared in two Super Bowl championships—Super Bowl XXXIII and Super Bowl LI—losing to the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots, respectively.
• The Falcons have made the playoffs fourteen times and have the seventh-worst playoff record in terms of win-loss percentage with 10 wins and 14 losses.
• A mark of the franchise's inconsistency is that they did not have consecutive seasons with better than .500 records until 2008 and 2009.