ATLANTA - Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said he will use this week to take a look at the head coaching situation of his struggling team, which lost 27-20 to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and has an open date before returning to competition Nov. 10 at New Orleans.
Blank said Sunday that he wants to get through the open week before deciding the future of Dan Quinn, whose team has lost six straight games in his fifth season in Atlanta and 12 of its past 16 games overall.
"We'll take the next couple of weeks during this bye period of time and evaluate where we are," Blank said, "and whatever decision we have to make will be made for the right reasons for the long term.
"We certainly have a lot of intelligence on this coaching staff. Besides Dan, we have three other (former) head coaches. We've got four general managers in the building beyond Thomas (Dimitroff). You know, the knowledge base is there, but the performance is not."
Blank held an impromptu news conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after Sunday's loss, answering questions in a tunnel hallway for about five minutes after Quinn spoke to the media.
"We are going to think really hard and evaluate everything we can do as an owner and a senior management team to figure out if there's anything we can do to make some decisions any earlier, any later to help the process, but we have no plans on making any changes right now," Blank said.
Blank, whose purchase of the Falcons closed in February 2002, has fired Dan Reeves, Jim Mora and Mike Smith as head coach. He decided not to retain Wade Phillips and Emmitt Thomas as interim coaches and had Bobby Petrino abruptly quit in the final month of 2007.
Quinn, a former defensive coordinator with Seattle, went 8-8 his first year in Atlanta, then led the Falcons to an NFC title in his second season. Atlanta famously blew a 25-point lead and lost the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots, but the team regained enough composure in 2017 to advance to the divisional playoff round, where its season ended at the 5-yard line of the Philadelphia Eagles in a road loss.
Injuries were a big reason the Falcons struggled last year, going 4-9 before winning their last three when they had been all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. This season, though, has been a disaster from the start. The Falcons trailed 28-0 in the opener at Minnesota and nearly lost the next week to Philadelphia. They haven't won since.
Blank indicated his patience is wearing thin even though he said he likes Quinn personally and believes the players are still competing hard under his watch. If he decides to dismiss Quinn midseason, assistants Dirk Koetter, Mike Mularkey and Raheem Morris all have head coaching experience.
"This is a performance-driven business," Blank said. "I understand that. They understand that as well. I'm not bashful about making those decisions. In almost 20 years, I've had to do it almost five times now."
Sunday's performance was much like the weeks before. The Falcons trailed 24-0 at halftime, and they now have a combined 144-50 deficit at intermission this season. Atlanta played a decent second half, giving itself an outside chance to get back in the game before running back Devonta Freeman lost a fourth-quarter fumble at the Seattle 1.
For the second straight week, Blank's 3-year-old stadium wasn't close to half full, so spectators who bothered to boo didn't sound too loud as the home team headed to the locker room at halftime. Continuing to see thousands of empty seats is obviously difficult for Blank, whose Major League Soccer franchise, Atlanta United FC, routinely fills the building and won a championship last year in its second season.
"I understand the responsibility I have to the fans, sponsors, players, coaches, etc. to put a winning team on the field. We're still committed to that 1,000%, and that's not going to change," Blank said.
"It's very painful because not only I'm an owner, but I'm a steward of the fans. I'm a custodian on their behalf, and I feel their pain. I truly do, and I see their pain and I understand what they're going through."
The Falcons' offense floundered early in the franchise's first start without quarterback Matt Ryan in 10 years. Ryan's streak of 154 consecutive regular-season starts ended as he was held out with a sprained right ankle.
The Seahawks (6-2) held off the second-half response by Atlanta and quarterback Matt Schaub, who passed for 460 yards in his first start since 2015 with the Baltimore Ravens. Schaub finished 39-of-52, and Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones had 10 catches for 152 yards.
Needing a touchdown and a field goal, the Falcons opted to have Matt Bryant kick a 37-yard field goal on a second-down play from the Seattle 19 with 1:21 remaining. Bryant's ensuing onside kickoff attempt went out of bounds, ending Atlanta's hopes for a final possession.