Atlanta Falcons should replace Dan Quinn with Mike Mularkey

Dan Quinn is at risk of being replaced at head coach if results don’t happen soon for this talented Atlanta Falcons team.

The Atlanta Falcons are 1-3 at the first quarter mark of the season and with a tough road ahead, wins are only going to be harder to come by. The next four games for the Falcons are at Houston, at Arizona, followed by back-to-back home games against the Rams and Seahawks.

Three of those teams were in the playoffs a year ago and have winning records to start this season. The Arizona Cardinals are a more competitive team than they were last season and it will not be a pushover game for the Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons need to win at least three of these next four games to be at the .500 by midseason. If they don’t, Atlanta may be looking ahead to next season and be ready to move on from Dan Quinn before the season is over. If Dan Quinn is let go, the Falcons would be better off making tight end coach Mike Mularkey the interim head coach instead of offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.

Quinn is in his fifth season as head coach for the Atlanta Falcons and has a career record of 37-31. He led the Falcons to an 8-8 record his first season and then in just his second year, took this team to an 11-5 record and a Super Bowl appearance. Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator at that time who helped coach the offense that led the league in points in 2016.

Since Shanahan left for a head coaching job with the 49ers after the 2016 season, the Falcons offense hasn’t lived up to expectations with Steve Sarkisian and Koetter leading the way. Quinn, however, led the Falcons back to the playoffs in 2017 with a 10-6 record but were out of the playoffs after two games.

In 2018, the Atlanta Falcons missed the playoffs completely with a 7-9 record, struggling mightily on defense while the offense played decent despite having consistent struggles on the offensive line. Going into this season, the expectations were set high with Quinn bringing aboard all new coordinators with himself calling the plays on defense. The Falcons also strengthened the offensive line during the offseason.

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So this slow start has Falcons fans concerned, as they should be with the talent that this team has put in place over the last few seasons. I believe coaching is their main issue for this slow start to the season and a change needs to be made.

Mularkey has the best chance to be the interim head coach if they decide to part ways with Quinn, even though Koetter has head coaching experience. Koetter finished a three-year stint as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a 19-29 record and does not come across as a good leader.

They need a leader with an oppressive resume to get the team turned around. I believe they choose Mularkey for the fact of him having more head coaching experience as he coached for three teams previously; Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Tennessee, and has shined this year coaching the tight ends unit.

Austin Hooper is having one of the best starts to the season that you could ask for and Luke Stocker has been productive in both blocking and pass-catching for the team. Mularkey’s career head coaching record of 36-53 shouldn’t fool you. In his most recent coaching job with the Titans, he helped turn around the bottom of the league team in 2015 when he took over halfway through the season.

Mularkey led the Titans to back-to-back 9-7 seasons is 2016 and 2017 before taking a year off from football in 2018. In 2017, the Titans qualified for the playoffs and Mularkey even won a playoff game before losing in the AFC divisional round to the Patriots.

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Simply put, Quinn is a walking duck at this point and Mularkey is the right guy to lead them going forward. He has helped turn around football teams before and can do it again in Atlanta if he is called upon to do so.

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