What if the Falcons win/lose against the Kansas City Chiefs

The Falcons, coming off of an exhilarating comeback victory on Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles , get an even more stiff prime time test this weekend when they welcome the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs to town.

Atlanta utilized some late heroics from Kirk Cousins on offense and Jessie Bates on defense to escape Philadelphia with a much needed early season win to avoid that dreaded 0-2 start, while Kansas City continues steadily humming with two wins in two tries.

This game will be a standalone matchup with all of America's undivided attention on it, as it is being played on Sunday Night Football. It will be Atlanta's first SNF appearance since the 2019 season.

Let's take a look at the circumstances surrounding the Falcons if they beat the Chiefs in Week 3, as well as looking at the scenario if they lose.

If the Falcons win They will proclaim themselves as legitimate contenders in the NFC. While every win is created equal in terms of affect to record, some victories really do hold more weight than others. In today's NFL, no victory is more impressive than that against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, who are the modern day dynasty. Doing so with the nation watching would drive the point home even further.

Atlanta will in the process complete an early September turnaround, and will get to the other side of what was arguably their toughest 3-game stretch on paper with a 2-1 record.

They will at best tie the Saints and Buccaneers atop the NFC South, if their divisional opponents suffer defeat at the hands of the Eagles and Broncos, respectively, and at worst will remain just a game behind.

The Falcons will break the tie in their favor in head to head matchups against KC since the turn of the millennia, with each team currently having won three times. Before 2000, Atlanta had never beaten the Chiefs head to head (0-4).

If the Falcons lose They will have lost their first two home games of the 2024 season and will go back under .500 with a 1-2 record, but with the silver lining of having lost both games against AFC opponents. Remember, conference record may come into play when determining tiebreakers at the end of the season.

While sitting below .500 is always uncomfortable, this is likely the consensus game on the schedule that many people marked down as a likely loss before the season started. There's no shame in losing to the Chiefs and there won't be a need to panic if it happens. Had the Falcons not done what they did in the 4th quarter in Philadelphia, and if they were sitting at 0-2, the pressure to not fall to 0-3 would have been great and a loss much less forgiving, but instead they will be on par with many of our expectations in the early going no matter the result here.

The biggest issue is that Atlanta will be in danger of falling two games back of either the Saints, Bucs or both, but we are still in September with nary a divisional game played on the Falcons' schedule yet. Going into New Orleans in Week 4 at 1-2 and possibly two games back will be an absolute pressure cooker scenario, however.

Atlanta's all time record against the Chiefs will fall to 3-8, and this would be KC's third consecutive win in the head to head series.