Keeping Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is the right choice. Here’s why.

Dumb. Gutless. Pointless.

These are just a few of the words, if I may paraphrase, to describe Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s decision to retain head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff following a second consecutive losing season.

To the contrary. Blank’s decision was smart, bold and purposeful.

A strong finish alone — 6-2 over the second half if the Falcons beat Tampa Bay today — is not enough to justify keeping Quinn. But here’s the contradicting truth. Their 1-7 start, as inexcusable and perplexing as it was, is not enough to justify firing him.

You don’t make such a jarring move simply as retribution for a bad start. You make it based on what’s best for the team going forward. The Falcons have plenty of problems. But is firing Quinn prerequisite to fixing those problems?

The late Jim Murray, the great LA Times sports columnist, famously wrote, “Nothing is so bad it can’t be made worse by firing the coach.”

Blank, the Falcons owner for 18 years, has taken that approach. Many fans and media members disagree.

But I’m not so sure.

It comes down to this:

Is Quinn capable of leading the Falcons to a Super Bowl championship? The answer to this question isn’t entirely hypothetical. Just three years ago, Quinn led the Falcons to the Super Bowl and one field goal away from winning it all.

Yes, the fact that the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead is an indefensible indictment of Quinn. Even so, under Quinn’s direction, the Falcons were in position to win the Super Bowl. Never mind that ill-advised decision to go for the jugular and score a touchdown when a field goal would have essentially iced the game. There were other pivotal moments that had nothing to do with coaching, not the least of them being Julian Edelman’s ridiculous catch.

Most people point to that 28-3 collapse as the pivotal moment in Quinn’s downfall. They overlook that the Falcons came within one play of beating Philadelphia the following year and returning to the Super Bowl.

Blank pointed out that that since the Falcons drafted Matt Ryan, they have won 108 games. That’s far more than at any other 11 year stretch in franchise history. They rank fourth in the NFC and seventh in the NFL in wins over that period. Yes, more than half of those wins came under Mike Smith. Quinn’s winning percentage of .532 may not seem overly impressive. But it’s better than seven coaches who won Super Bowls.

So we know Quinn “can” win.

“We’ve had a sustainable winning organization,” Blank said. “Not so much the last couple of years. I understand that.”

Even so, another question has to be answered. Is there anyone else available who would be more capable of winning than Quinn? Maybe.

But whom? Mike McCarthy? Maybe. But McCarthy’s last two seasons with the Green Bay Packers were much like Quinn’s — 7-9 in 2017 and 4-7-1 in 2018 before getting fired. Sure, Aaron Rodgers was injured, and that changed everything. But even aside from that, since winning a Super Bowl in the 2010 season, McCarthy’s playoff record was 5-6.

Those who have followed the Falcons for decades might think Blank’s decision to retain Quinn is comparable to the Rankin Smith family, the original owners, calling Dan Henning into the office to fire him, only to let Henning talk them into giving him another year. But the similarities end there. Blank has proved himself a more capable and committed owner than the Smiths. More importantly, Quinn has proved himself a more capable head coach than Henning.

Blank talked about the importance of continuity. He could have cited the Steelers and their decision to keep Bill Cowher after consecutive seasons of 7-9 and 6-10. Two years later, the Steelers were 13-3. Four years after that, they were Super Bowl champs.

The fact that the Falcons turned their season around — beginning with a stunning win at New Orleans — is less consequential as how they did it. Quinn made a bold move to reshuffle the coaching staff and player roles, including firing himself as defensive coordinator. Even more impressive, the players openly rallied around Quinn to save their coach.

Quinn fully understands how fortunate he is to have been given a second chance.

“I’ve made mistakes, and we get to fix them, and I think that’s an important thing... use these lessons here,” Quinn said. “Not everybody else always has the chance to do that. I certainly hate the results, but man, I learned a lot, and I’d say more than anything, I can’t wait to apply the things that I’ve learned with this team and moving forward.”

Now comes the harder part. Finding better players.