The poor Atlanta Falcons. Seems they'll now have to wait at least two more weeks to name Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their next head coach.
Thanks to Quinn's resilient defense, an entire Seattle team that refused to quit and a Green Bay Packers bunch that somehow, some way snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in blowing the biggest lead ever in a league championship game, the Seahawks will return to the Super Bowl for a second straight year.
Because of that 28-22 overtime triumph in the NFC title game, Atlanta can't formerly hire him. And because of that, who's to say he's certain to take the job, though no other head coaching position will probably be open by then, since Denver is expected to hire former Broncos backup quarterback and current Baltimore offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak as early as today.
But if the Falcons can be patient, Quinn certainly looks to be worth the wait, given that the Seahawks' return to the Super Bowl is mostly because of the assistant's devilish D.
It wasn't just that Green Bay was forced to settle for first-half field goals, its offense twice stalling at the Seahawks 1-yard line. In a second half in which a single Green Bay touchdown would have ended things, Seattle held superb Packers QB Aaron Rodgers' offense to two field goals.
As Rodgers told ESPN afterward, "It's going to be a missed opportunity that I'll probably think about for the rest of my career. We were the better team today, we played well enough to win. We can't blame anybody but ourselves."
Fair or not, the Packer likely to endure the most blame is tight end Brandon Bostick, who couldn't grab the onside kick near the end of regulation that allowed the Seahawks to grab their first lead of the game.
Bostick was supposed to throw a block, allowing wideout Jordy Nelson -- who was standing behind him -- to use his sure hands to field the kickoff. But Bostick attempted to field the ball, fumbled it to Seattle, which basically reversed the game's outcome.
"I let my team down," Bostick said afterward. "Jordy would've caught the ball, and the game would've been over."
Yet that doesn't mean the Seahawks don't deserve as much praise as Green Bay does blame for their eventual victory. There was the gritty fake field goal called by 63-year-old Seattle head coach Pete Carroll, reportedly the first fake field goal he's ever called in an NFL game.
There was Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson -- he of the four interceptions -- going 3-for-3 in the overtime for 80 yards, including the 35-yard TD strike to Jermaine Kearse, whom he'd targeted on each of the four INTs.
And there was the onside kick.
"Just making the plays at the end and keep believing," Wilson told television reporters as he choked back tears of joy. "There was no doubt we had no doubt as a team."
There is certainly no doubt that Seattle wisely used its 2012 third-round draft pick when it tabbed Wilson after his lone season at Wisconsin following his transfer from N.C. State.
To quote Fox's Joe Buck early Sunday evening: "They drafted a winner."
However, there will be much doubt whether or not the Seahawks can repeat as Super Bowl champs against AFC champion New England following the Patriots' 45-7 pounding of Indianapolis on Sunday night.
Prior to Seattle's repeat trip to the Super Bowl, the Patriots were the last team to get there two years in a row and that was 10 years ago.
Super Bowl XLIX is also going to again blow open the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady debate, since the Seahawks destroyed Manning's Denver Broncos 43-8 in last year's final game. Let Brady solve Quinn's D, or at least rough it up a bit and the arguments about which QB was better should forevermore tip in the New England QB's favor.
Another sidebar to this Super Bowl -- Pats coach Bill Belichick followed Carroll as the New England head coach at the conclusion of the 1999 season. A Carroll win would still leave him one shy of Belichick's three Lombardi Trophies, but it would certainly muddy the discussion concerning the best coach in the NFL these days.
One final thought concerning the hapless NFL franchises we follow most closely here in the Tennessee Valley. New England rushing star LeGarrette Blount was once in the Tennessee Titans camp. What, they couldn't use a bruising back good enough to rush for 148 yards and three touchdowns in Sunday's AFC title game?
So now we wait for 13 days. For the Super Bowl. And, presumably, for the Falcons to tab Quinn soon after the close of that game.
But until then the words of Fox color analyst Troy Aikman, who owns three Super Bowl rings, concerning Sunday's Seattle win will surely be repeated daily around water coolers and sports talk radio.
Said Aikman: "It's as improbable a win as I've ever witnessed."
The only thing more improbable might be Quinn guiding the Falcons to next year's Super Bowl.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.