TEMPE, Ariz. -- One team sort of knows how the Atlanta Falcons are feeling right now -- and what they’re in for over the next couple of months.

In 2015, the Arizona Cardinals put together an impressive 13-3 record with the league’s most potent offense. They steamrolled through the regular season, won their division and secured the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. Just like the Falcons did in 2016.

Just like the Falcons, the Cardinals featured a veteran quarterback who turned in the best season of his career, an elite wide receiver who was dominant and a defense that was overwhelming at times and porous at others. Both teams, coincidentally, had Dwight Freeney rushing the passer for them.

After playing for the NFC title in the 2015 season, Bruce Arians' Cardinals were a popular pick to win the Super Bowl in 2016. But after a 1-3 start, Arians said he could feel his team pressing, never finding its form. Bruce Kluckhohn/USA TODAY Sports

This is where the Falcons' and the Cardinals’ paths slightly diverge. The Falcons faced the fourth-seeded Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game, while the Cardinals had to play the No. 1-seeded Carolina Panthers to get to the Super Bowl. The Falcons won, earning a trip to their second Super Bowl. Had the Cardinals defeated the Panthers, they would’ve advance to their second Super Bowl.

The two franchises’ paths overlapped in their respective season finales.

While the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game in Charlotte, North Carolina, never looked as good as the Falcons against New England in Super Bowl LI, both teams looked lost and out of sync in their respective second halves, leading to embarrassing losses: the Cardinals in a blowout loss and the Falcons in a historic collapse.

The Falcons can study and learn from what happened to the Cardinals since their loss to the Panthers a little over a year ago.

The Cardinals spent all of last offseason answering questions about their 2015 demise. How did it happen? Are they over it? How do they prevent it from happening again? How do they move forward? The Cardinals also found themselves in a unique position. They returned every offensive skill player from that NFC Championship Game team, which led to Super Bowl expectations. Throughout training camp they were the chic pick to not just make Super Bowl LI but also to win it.

By the time the New England Patriots arrived in Arizona for Week 1 on Sunday night in prime time, the hype around the Cardinals was at a fever pitch. They didn’t live up to any of it over the next 16 weeks.

The Cardinals turned in one of the most underachieving seasons in recent memory, finishing 7-8-1 after being eliminated from playoff contention with a few weeks left in the season.

Over the course of the season, general manager Steve Keim said he felt the team hadn’t synced up during training. He said the Cardinals were “overconfident” and they believed the season would “fall into place.” Coach Bruce Arians felt, after all the attention heaped upon the Cardinals throughout the offseason and after the loss to the Patriots, a sense of self-doubt began creeping through the locker room. When they fell to 1-3 after losing to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4, Arians said his team began pressing.

Arizona’s 2016 can be the ideal case study for the Falcons.

Depending on how their roster changes during free agency, although none of their major offensive pieces are scheduled to be free agents this year, the Falcons could very likely return as the NFC favorites. How they handle that, both as a coaching staff and as a locker room, especially during OTAs and minicamp, will go a long way in determining how the Falcons fare in 2017. Obviously, as was the case with the Cardinals, there are unforeseen circumstances -- missed field goals, both starting tackles getting hurt, John Brown’s health issues and Michael Floyd’s DUI.

If the Falcons do not carry a Super Bowl hangover, which often affects teams that lose a title game, they could put themselves in position to make a run at another Super Bowl appearance.