FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons have a 5% chance of making the 2025 NFL playoffs, according to the New York Times’ simulator.

So, you're saying there's a chance?

Yes, even at 3-6, the Falcons have a chance of making the playoffs.

In fact, history shows it is possible. Nine teams have had that exact record and made the postseason field, proving it so. They are as follows:

• 2023 Green Bay Packers | 9-8 | Lost Divisional Playoff
• 2023 Los Angeles Rams | 10-7 | Lost Wild Card Playoff
• 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars | 9-8 | Lost Divisional Playoff
• 2021 Philadelphia Eagles | 9-8 | Lost Wild Card Playoff
• 2012 Washington Redskins | 10-6 | Lost Wild Card Playoff
• 1996 Jacksonville Jaguars | 9-7 | Lost Conference Championship
• 1995 Detroit Lions | 10-6 | Lost Wild Card Playoff
• 1970 Cincinnati Bengals | 8-6 | Lost Divisional Playoff

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris was a part of two of those comeback runs. He served as the Redskins' secondary coach in 2012 and the Rams' defensive coordinator in 2023. Washington went undefeated in its remaining seven games after the 3-6 start. Los Angeles went 7-1.

"When we were at the Rams or when we were at Washington, I don't think we ever came out and said, 'Hey, we're going to make this run and let it happen,'" Morris said. "It just kind of happens by getting better and better every day."

Both the Redskins' and Rams' schedules, however, featured Week 10 byes. Their second-half surges came after breaks. The Falcons already had their bye in Week 5.

That note isn't meant to discourage Atlanta. It's more so to emphasize every team and every season is different. That's why Morris chose not to look back on those 2012 and 2023 seasons to help in 2025.

"I don't like to, to be honest," he said, "because every team has its own individual taste."

Well, Morris wasn't the only present-day Falcons member who lived through these two specific historical rallies. Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins was a rookie for the Redskins at the time of their run. Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson was the offensive pass game coordinator/quarterback coach for the Rams.

Cousins and Robinsons each took lessons away from their experiences that they believe can be applied to their current situation in Atlanta.

Let's rewind the clock and allow them to explain.

— 2012 —

The Redskins lost, 21-13, to the Carolina Panthers in Week 9 of the 2012 season to fall to 3-6 overall.

"Now you're playing to see who obviously is going to be on your football team for years to come," Washington head coach Mike Shanahan said postgame.

That comment did not go over well.

"Basically, the media took it as him mailing it in and moving on to young guys," Cousins said. "It upset some of the veteran players on the team. By upset, I mean galvanized."

The Redskins returned from their bye week with something to prove. Coaches and players alike. They all wanted to correct the narrative.

Washington had not given up on the season.

Shanahan began Week 11 with a team meeting in which he addressed every individual.

"I'll never forget," Cousins said. "He put us all in buckets: potential Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, guys I'd go to war with and then even a 'we don't know yet.' I was in the 'we don't know yet' category because I had played a total of like 10 snaps in my career. ... I just felt that putting it out there and kind of letting guys know where they stand, I think, empowered a lot of people."

That following Sunday, Washington beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-6. It was the first domino. The Redskins won out to finish the regular season 10-6.

"It was more just getting to the end of December," Cousins said. "Your head has been down underwater all this time working, and you come up for air and you look back and you say, 'Wow, we've won seven in a row.'"

On Jan. 6, 2013, the Redskins played the Seattle Seahawks in a Wild Card game. Seattle won, 24-14. But still, they made the postseason — a feat only three other teams since 1970 had accomplished to that point.

— 2023 —

The Rams lost to the Green Bay Packers, 20-3, in Week 9 of the 2023 season to drop to 3-6 overall.

There wasn't one postgame or bye moment that reignited the fire within Los Angeles, or at least not that Robinson shared. It was more so being honest internally with the Rams' situation.

"We said, 'We've just got to win each and every day,'" Robinsons said. "'We've got to have the best practice. We've got to have the best walkthrough. We've got to have the best Thursday practice, Friday, Saturday.'"

Oddly enough, that pressure to be the best helped rather than hurt the team.

"I remember just the freedom that guys ended up playing with throughout the rest of the season," Robinson said. "It was like, 'Hey, our record is what it is. Allow yourself to just cut it loose and go play.' It was reflective of the way that the whole team responded."

In Week 11, the Rams beat the Seahawks, 17-16. Los Angeles then won its next two games to reach .500 again for the first time in nearly two months.

In Week 14, though, the Rams lost to the Baltimore Ravels in overtime, 37-31. Los Angeles fell back to 6-7.

"We just reset it," Robinson said. "Hey, we're 0-0."

For the first time that season, the Rams strung together four wins. They reached 10-7 and made the Wild Card round.

On Jan. 14, 2024, the Rams lost, 24-23, to the Detroit Lions. They became the 7th team since 1970 to make it to the playoffs after a 3-6 start.

— 2025 —

The Falcons have lost four consecutive games to reach a 3-6 record as Sunday's Week 11 rematch with the Panthers approaches.

Atlanta's last two losses were against the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots, who share the league's best record of 8-2 at the moment. The Falcons lost to the Patriots, 24-23, in regulation and to the Colts, 31-25, in overtime. That's a combined seven points short.

"The NFL, unfortunately, if you're close in every game, it doesn't count for anything," Cousins said. "But when you are close in every game and you've got eight left, it gives you a lot of hope that in those eight anything can happen."

Especially if the Falcons' pull from lessons Cousins and Robinson learned in 2012 and 2023, respectively.

And they kind of already are. They just need to dig in.

The candor Shanahan displayed in Washington? Morris has shown it.

"He calls it 'ripping Band-Aids off' in team meetings," Cousins said. "We got to rip Band-Aids off sometimes. I think that's what coaches need to do, is coach hard and do it in a way that's respectful but also clear and gets things resolved. I think Raheem's done a good job of that from where he's sitting of letting guys know where they stand."

The mix of stress and freedom the Rams felt in Los Angeles? The Falcons have been balancing both, too.

"It's as close of a team as I've ever been around," Robinson said. "Whether it's players to players, coaches to coaches, coaches to players, it is an ultra tight-knit group. …

"Have no doubt: We've got to get this thing fixed. We've got to get it fixed in a hurry."

The Falcons' 2025 playoff hopes are still alive. But they need to beat the Panthers to keep it that way. If not, Atlanta's odds are less than 1% as trends stand.

The time for a turnaround is now. And remember:

"It's been done before," Cousins said.