The Rams played great defense all season. The Bengals did it throughout the playoffs. Watching them slug it out on Sunday got me to thinking about the last time the Falcons played championship-level defense. I had to go all the way back to the middle of the Mike Smith era.
From 2010 to ‘12, the Falcons ranked ninth, fifth and ninth in the Football Outsiders efficiency metric (adjusted for opponent and situation). Those Falcons teams were fifth, 18th and fifth in points allowed. They could stop everybody except Aaron Rodgers, who buried them on the way to winning the 2011 Super Bowl.
Since then, the Falcons have struggled to stop anybody. They ranked 26th or worse in adjusted defensive efficiency in four of the past nine seasons and never better than 14th. The Falcons were 25th or worse in points allowed five times over that span, with one season better than 14th.
