In Week 9 of the 2015 NFL season, Dan Quinn and the 6-2 Atlanta Falcons travelled to Santa Clara, CA to take on Jim Tomsula and the 2-6 San Francisco 49ers. With Blaine Gabbert starting for the first time in red and gold, it was a game that should’ve been ripe for the taking from the birds.
The prerequisites for taking down a team led by Tomsula and Gabbert are essentially just as follows:
• show up
• don’t make the Worst Coaching Decision in NFL History
But with victory right there in front of him for the taking in the twilight of the game, Quinn’s brain decided to float out of his head for a few moments, depriving him of everything he learned in 2nd grade math — like how to add two single-digit numbers together.
And now he has to spend the rest of his days wandering this planet with the ignominy of not only making the worst coaching decision imaginable, but having lost to the Tomsula/Gabbert duo. It’s not a stench that erodes quickly.