Mark WiedmerOnly Atlanta.
How else to explain the greatest collapse in Super Bowl history. How else to explain how a 28-3 Super Bowl lead 12 minutes into the third quarter becomes a 34-28 overtime defeat?
No team has ever blown a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl.
Never. Ever.
But then no Atlanta Falcons team had been in that spot before, either. And while coach Dan Quinn wasn't around in January 2013, Matt Ryan was the same Atlanta quarterback who was at the controls when the Falcons owned a 17-0 lead against San Francisco in the 2012 season's NFC title game, only to come up short on their own Georgia Dome field.
So maybe it was slightly believable that such bad luck could again find Ryan. Especially since his fumble while being sacked with less than nine minutes left in the game is what let the Patriots rally from a 16-point deficit.
So from a certain Falcons victory came an overtime defeat that may haunt Georgians as long as Sherman's Civil War march to the sea.
"You never know what play it's going to be in the Super Bowl," New England quarterback Tom Brady said Sunday night, after he collected yet another Super Bowl win.
Yet the Falcons know two specific plays - Ryan's fumble and a holding call against left tackle Jake Matthews near the end of the fourth quarter - will be discussed over and over again, at least until their sporting hearts are broken again somewhere down the road.
But really? Thirty-one straight unanswered points? A pair of 2-point conversions allowed in the final six minutes? Against an offense the Atlanta defense had all but shut out for the game's first 42 minutes?
Of course, any trashing of the Falcons must also include great praising of the Patriots, particularly Brady, who won his record fifth Super Bowl in his seventh attempt, as did his coach, Bill Belichick, who also became the first coach to win five Lombardi Trophies.
"We all brought each other back," said Brady when asked what he did to keep his team together. "We never felt out of it. We just made a few more plays than them. They're all great. This team resembles some teams of the past. They all had great mental toughness."
The mental toughness of the Falcons will certainly be called into question in the days and months, and quite possibly years to come. There is nothing wrong with losing to the Patriots, one of the great organizations in the history of pro football. But losing a 25-point lead in the final 18 minutes of regulation, then giving up a touchdown in overtime to make New England's blitz a string of 31 unanswered points is hard to swallow.
There's also this, just to further dampen the spirits of Falcons Nation: The hangover from that 2012 meltdown against the 49ers led to two straight losing seasons and the firing of Mike Smith as coach. With Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan apparently leaving for San Francisco, of all places, to become the head coach, you wonder if another deep depression could befall the Birds this time around.
It's certainly not the way the prematurely victory dancing Atlanta owner Arthur Blank wanted to throw open his sparkling new Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the 2017 season.
But that's the way it will be, as excruciatingly painful as that reality is today for those Falcons fans who will never be able to appreciate Super Bowl LI's remarkable finish due to their personal pain and suffering from this shocking collapse.
"What a wonderful football game tonight," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as he handed the Lombardi Trophy to New England owner Robert Kraft. "That's what NFL football is all about. What an unbelievable achievement for your organization. Take your Super Bowl trophy home to New England."
And he's right, even if it had to be the toughest presentation he's ever made, given the friction that currently exists between him, Kraft and Brady over the quarterback's four-game suspension at the start of this season due to "Deflategate."
And Kraft didn't seem too eager to let bygones be bygones after accepting the trophy.
With words he's surely spent much time penning before this game, he said, "Two years ago we won our fourth Super Bowl down in Arizona. I told our fans that was the sweetest one of all. A lot has transpired over the last two years, and I don't think that needs any explanation."
Bada-bing, bada-boom!
But to return to Goodell's remarks, what a wonderful run of championships we've seen of late, every second counting toward victory or defeat.
The 3-point buzzer beater by Villanova's Kris Jenkins to topple North Carolina in last spring's NCAA title game. The Cubs winning their first World Series in 108 years by winning in the 10th inning of the seventh game. The Clemson Tigers scoring with one second on the clock to dethrone Alabama in last month's College Football Playoff title game.
And now this, a Super Bowl to leave us all gaga in a year Lady Gaga took the halftime stage.
At least every one of us who didn't shed big tears for the team from the Big Peach.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.