FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons upset the Los Angeles Rams and are feeling quite pleased about it.

Monday's Week 17 prime-time game featured a 6-9 Falcons group vs. an 11-4 Rams squad. It had the Falcons' No. 25 scoring offense facing the Rams' No. 6 scoring defense. Conversely, the Falcons' No. 21 scoring defense was up against the Rams' No. 1 scoring offense. The scale, on paper, was heavily tipped in Los Angeles' favor.

Except, Atlanta flipped that scale inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, winning 27-24.

"It was obviously a really, really good team — a really hot team that's playing really well — and they're going to be in the playoffs," Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews said. "It was a good opportunity for us on the prime-time stage to go out there and show we can compete. It feels good to pull out a win."

That's the focus, too. Feeling good about the win rather than bittersweet or any other type of emotion considering the fact it ultimately does not impact their playoff hopes.

The Falcons were eliminated from postseason contention after their Week 14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks dropped them to 4-9 on the season. After winning each of the following three games, Atlanta sits at 7-9 and looks more like the team many expected before the season began.

"We confirmed who we are," Falcons safety Jessie Bates III said. "Our record doesn't reflect who we are as a group. We're two, three, four snaps away from being in the same picture with Carolina and the Bucs. But that's not the case."

The Carolina Panthers lead the NFC South with an 8-8 record as Week 18 begins. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Falcons are both 7-9. Tampa Bay sits second in the division over Atlanta because of its better record in common games. The Buccaneers are 5-6 against common opponents, while the Falcons are 4-7. Their shared opponents were the Panthers (twice for Falcons), New Orleans Saints (twice for Buccaneers), San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks.

The Buccaneers play the Panthers on Saturday, and the Falcons play the Saints on Sunday. There's a chance Tampa Bay, Carolina and Atlanta are all tied at the end of the weekend with 8-9 records. However, there's no chance the Falcons win that tiebreaker—they would finish third in the division in that instance.

"We understand obviously we're out of the playoffs, we're not going to make that," Matthews said. "But I think what's been really special is just to see the guys in here and the pride they have being on this team and playing next to the guys they play next to. We really care. It's important to us."

They rallied during the darkest stretch of their season. The loss to the Seahawks marked the Falcons' seventh in an eight-game span.

The last three consecutive wins, though, marked the Falcons' first three-game win streak of the season. They won back-to-back games in Weeks 4 and 6, but, technically, a Week 5 bye split those up. This current run is Atlanta's first taste of uninterrupted success.

The Falcons' previous pair of wins came against the Arizona Cardinals, who were 3-11 at the time, and against the Buccaneers, who had won only one — versus the Cardinals, no less — of their last five games. The Rams were a much more difficult test. The Falcons passed.

"It says a lot about our team, the foundation of our team," Bates said. "Any other 6-9 team, I think you start seeing those guys point fingers, and they don't get better. They get worse. That's the complete opposite of what we've shown in the second half of the season."

Sunday's regular-season finale against the Saints presents the Falcons an opportunity do something they haven't since 2019, which is win four games in a row. More importantly, it will be Atlanta's final chance to do what it has set out to do since being removed from the postseason picture, and that's end the 2025 season on a high note.

"I think these guys are fighters," Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. "I think these guys love football. I think the world of this football team. I think these guys are built for this.

"I know we joke about it a lot, but I told you earlier, 'We have to find ways to win,' and they just found ways to win. They're doing that now."