Are the Atlanta Falcons being overlooked in recent Super Bowl rankings?

Bleacher Report recently took the time to rank each team’s chances of winning their first Super Bowl. Of the 12 teams in the league that have yet to raise a Lombardi, the Falcons rank 8th. While that number may seem low, it’s a pretty fair read on a team with no pass rush and obvious issues in the defensive secondary.

The teams ranked behind the Falcons are the Cardinals, Vikings, Panthers and Titans. Barring a historic turnaround, all of these teams are not only out of the Super Bowl race, but far from being considered playoff threats. The Cardinals are the only potentially interesting team in the group.

Kyler Murray’s return to form and his step up in production could make them a potential contender for the third wild-card spot. While they won’t be seriously in the conversation, the franchise has a chance to be interesting late in the season.

This brings us to the list of teams that were ranked ahead of Atlanta in terms of chances to win a Super Bowl. The Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers and Cleveland Browns are all ranked ahead of Atlanta.

Any reasonable Atlanta fan knows that the top five teams on the list are much better equipped to make the Super Bowl. The Chargers are the starting point for a real discussion. Yes, they have a young and promising core, but in a division with Patrick Mahomes, what is your true potential?

The rise of Justin Herbert and the arrival of Jim Harbaugh are enough to make a compelling argument, though. The only truly frustrating aspect of this ranking is the fact that the Browns are ahead of the Falcons.

Let’s start with Atlanta’s efforts all offseason to try to improve, while the Browns didn’t do much. Cleveland lost its starting quarterback who was crucial to their playoff run. The return of Deshaun Watson is a negative for this team, especially since he was outclassed by a retired Joe Flacco.

Neither the Browns nor the Falcons are in a position to win the Super Bowl this year. However, what seems more likely, Watson and the Browns beating some combination of Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Burrow, Stroud, Rodgers and Lawrence, or Cousins ​​leading Atlanta ahead of Purdy, Love, Hurts or Goff?

The NFC is a much weaker conference and that should have been factored into these rankings. The Browns and Falcons are both cursed franchises, but only one plays in the weakest conference. Plus, the Browns aren’t even the second seed in their division, with the Ravens and Bengals getting much more interest.

Add to that Tomlin’s Steelers’ never-losing season and there’s good reason to doubt their chances of holding on to a playoff spot. Neither team may be a real contender, but Atlanta deserved to get ahead of Cleveland based on the level of difficulty.