{"id":392237,"date":"2026-01-05T02:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392237\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T02:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:32:09","slug":"atlanta-falcons-fire-coach-and-gm-carolina-panthers-win-nfc-south-matt-lafleur-myles-garrett-season-sacks-record-playoffs-seeding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392237\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons fire coach and GM, Carolina Panthers win NFC South, Matt LaFleur, Myles Garrett season sacks record, playoffs seeding"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons have pulled the pin on yet another unsuccessful era, firing both their head coach and general manager in a ruthless post-game move. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos captured a top seed in the NFL playoffs while the Carolina Panthers backed into their first post-season berth since 2017 without taking the field on a hectic season-closing Monday morning (AEDT).<\/p>\n

Watch an average 6 games per week and every game of the NFL Postseason, LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Atlanta finished its season on a four-game winning streak but finished third in the NFC South with an 8-9 record, and after a post-game meeting with franchise owner Arthur Blank, coach Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot were dismissed from their positions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have great personal affinity for both Raheem and Terry and appreciate their hard work and dedication to the Falcons, but I believe we need new leadership in these roles moving forward,\u201d said Blank in a statement just hours after the Falcons\u2019 19-17 home win over New Orleans. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to move away from people who represent the organization so well and have a shared commitment to the values that are important to the organization is not an easy one, but the results on the field have not met our expectations or those of our fans and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris owned a 16-18 record over two seasons in charge of the Falcons, while Fontenot this year capped his fifth campaign in charge for a record of 37-48 with no playoff appearances to show for them. <\/p>\n

BRONCOS, PANTHERS EMERGE BIG WINNERS<\/p>\n

The Broncos (14-3) claimed the AFC top seed, a first-round bye and playoff home-field advantage by defeating the visiting Los Angeles Chargers 19-3. <\/p>\n

Ja\u2019Quan McMillian\u2019s 45-yard interception return touchdown gave Denver a 10-0 lead and Wil Lutz added field goals of 23, 26 and 41 yards in the second half to secure a triumph over the playoff-bound Chargers (11-6).<\/p>\n

A Denver loss would have opened the door for New England, which routed Miami 38-10 as Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeon Henderson each ran for two touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The Patriots (14-3) settled for the AFC second seed and will host the Chargers in their playoff opener.<\/p>\n

Had Denver and New England both lost, the AFC South champion Jacksonville Jaguars (13-4) would have swiped the AFC top seed after routing the Tennessee Titans 41-7 to close the season on an eight-game win streak.<\/p>\n

Trevor Lawrence threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns for Jacksonville, which will host Buffalo in a playoff opener next week.<\/p>\n

Seattle (14-3) claimed the NFC top seed on Sunday with a 13-3 victory at San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Carolina and Tampa Bay were relegated to spectators as their playoff fate was settled when the Atlanta Falcons beat visiting New Orleans 19-17.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay\u2019s 16-14 triumph over Carolina on Sunday left both clubs 8-9 and the Falcons matched them atop the NFC South division by beating the Saints.<\/p>\n

In a three-way head-to-head results tie-breaker, the Panthers took the division crown and playoff spot, Tampa Bay having needed a Saints win or draw to reach the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cProud of everybody,\u201d Carolina coach Dave Canales said. \u201cIt took the whole season capturing opportunities to be in this position and we\u2019re ready to chase the next championship opportunity in front of us.\u201d Atlanta\u2019s Zane Gonzalez kicked his fourth field goal, a 38-yarder, to give the Falcons a 19-10 lead with 2:52 remaining. New Orleans answered on Tyler Shough\u2019s 16-yard touchdown pass to Ronnie Bell with 1:11 to play, but the Saints could not recover an onside kick attempt and Atlanta ran out the clock.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams will visit Carolina in next week\u2019s playoff openers. The NFL\u2019s final playoff berth will be decided later when the Baltimore Ravens visit Pittsburgh for a winner-take-all showdown to decide the AFC North title. The loser misses the playoffs and the winner hosts Houston in a playoff opener next week.<\/p>\n

The Texans (12-5) stretched their win streak to nine games by defeating Indianapolis 38-30, the Colts losing their seventh game in a row.<\/p>\n

Chicago lost 19-16 at home to Detroit but took a second seed when Philadelphia lost 24-17 to Washington. That sends San Francisco to Philadelphia and Green Bay to Chicago for playoff openers. <\/p>\n

PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE: Every wild card round game as it stands<\/a><\/p>\n

Allen misses chance to ice Eagles | 03:13<\/p>\n

PACKERS ARE PLAYOFFS-BOUND … BUT LAFLEUR ON HOT SEAT<\/p>\n

Matt LaFleur might have work to do to keep his job.<\/p>\n

Despite being one of the NFL\u2019s winningest coaches, at least in the regular season, his job security with the Packers is reportedly not firm.<\/p>\n

Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer listed LaFleur in his \u201ctime will tell\u201d list of potential head coach firings across the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking about Matt LaFleur also,\u201d Glazer said on the \u201cFox NFL Sunday\u201d show. \u201cWhy\u2019s he on the board? Matt LaFleur\u2019s job security has been questioned weekly at his press conferences. Which would be crazy to move on from a guy like that, but he\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Packers are locked into the No. 7 seed in the NFC, so they did not have anything to play for in their clash against the Vikings on Monday.<\/p>\n

As a result, they rested quarterback Jordan Love, despite him clearing concussion protocol, along with a few other starters. <\/p>\n

Currently in his seventh season with the team, LaFleur entered Monday with a 76-39-1 regular season record, including three-straight 13-win seasons (and three-straight NFC North titles) when he had Aaron Rodgers across the first three seasons of his tenure.<\/p>\n

He has only missed the playoffs once in his tenure \u2014 in 2022, when the Packers went 8-9.<\/p>\n

But he also has repeatedly fallen short in the postseason \u2014 last year, the Packers were eliminated in the wild-card round by the Eagles. <\/p>\n

And this year marked his fourth straight year not winning the division they once dominated.<\/p>\n

The Packers entered this season with massive expectations, having pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire star edge rusher Micah Parsons and with Love in his third season as a starter.<\/p>\n

But Parsons tore his ACL in Week 14 and the Packers have struggled down the stretch of the regular season, carrying a three-game losing streak into Monday. <\/p>\n

With another playoff shortcoming, the Packers could look to shake things up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like you\u2019re always coaching for everything in this league, you know? That\u2019s just my mindset,\u201d LaFleur said earlier this season. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been that way. You can\u2019t ever exhale. You gotta always be pushing. That\u2019s just my mindset and that will be my mindset \u2019til they tell me not to coach anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

GARRETT SETS RECORD IN TOUCHING SCENES<\/p>\n

Several playoff-qualified teams rested their starters ahead of next week\u2019s post-season openers.<\/p>\n

The Houston Texans (12-5) stretched their win streak to nine games and took the AFC fifth seed by defeating Indianapolis 38-30, the Colts closing the season with seven losses in a row.<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s Ka\u2019imi Fairbairn kicked a career-high six field goals, including a game clincher from 43 yards with 12 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett set an NFL record for quarterback sacks in a single season by taking down Cincinnati\u2019s Joe Burrow in the fourth quarter of Cleveland\u2019s 20-18 road victory.<\/p>\n

Garrett raised his season total to 23 sacks, eclipsing the old record of 22.5 sacks shared by T.J. Watt from 2021 and Michael Strahan from 2001. <\/p>\n

And in touching scenes, Garrett was overcome with happiness as his teammates instantly mobbed him. He later celebrated with his mother, who could be seen elated in the crowd. <\/p>\n

However, not everyone was thrilled with the Browns star achieving the all-time feat \u2014 none less so than Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor, who was unhappy with the fact referees stopped the game after Garrett\u2019s historic 23rd sack to honour the pass-rusher. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing for our lives here \u2026 in a critical moment like that \u2026 we were trying to be on the ball and tempo, and we couldn\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Falcons have pulled the pin on yet another unsuccessful era, firing both their head coach and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2095,64,63,631,209913,209907,42498,485,1257,10027,6115,1238,86176,1256,99297,209914,91014,112507,209905,1243,209911,1255,209910,1263,13339,40111,16820,9139,3879,1025,2041,2067,12293,209908,12274,4598,5136,5132,113276,89025,209912,11368,6113,209906,1254,85,209909,23868,128128,6578,2614,209904,209915,163072],"class_list":{"0":"post-392237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-baltimore-ravens","12":"tag-bolter-clinches-playoffs","13":"tag-brutal-rival-twist","14":"tag-buffalo","15":"tag-california","16":"tag-carolina-panthers","17":"tag-cincinnati","18":"tag-cleveland","19":"tag-cleveland-browns","20":"tag-defensive-end","21":"tag-denver-broncos","22":"tag-division-crown","23":"tag-eight-game-win-streak","24":"tag-field-goals","25":"tag-final-playoff-berth","26":"tag-game-clincher","27":"tag-green-bay-packers","28":"tag-hectic-closing-day","29":"tag-houston-texans","30":"tag-insane-history","31":"tag-los-angeles-rams","32":"tag-louisiana","33":"tag-michael-strahan","34":"tag-myles-garrett","35":"tag-national-football-league","36":"tag-new-orleans","37":"tag-new-york","38":"tag-north-america","39":"tag-northern-america","40":"tag-ohio","41":"tag-onside-kick-attempt","42":"tag-pennsylvania","43":"tag-penrith-panthers","44":"tag-philadelphia","45":"tag-pittsburgh","46":"tag-playoff-berth","47":"tag-playoff-spot","48":"tag-playoffs-seeding","49":"tag-regular-season","50":"tag-san-francisco","51":"tag-season-sacks-record","52":"tag-seattle-seahawks","53":"tag-sports","54":"tag-top-seed","55":"tag-touchdown-pass","56":"tag-touching-scenes","57":"tag-trevor-lawrence","58":"tag-united-states-of-america","59":"tag-wildcard-playoff-berth","60":"tag-winner-take-all-showdown","61":"tag-zane-gonzalez"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}