Sunday was a bittersweet moment for the Atlanta Falcons.

The team finally snapped their nasty five game losing streak by trouncing the Arizona Cardinals in a 40-14 rout, but it was also the occasion of their final home game of the regular season, and found them officially eliminated from the NFC playoff picture.

With their win in Miami on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings had the honor of keeping Atlanta from the conversation.

Just two short seasons ago, the Falcons were playing in the Super Bowl.

Truth be told, the Falcons felt like they were out of consideration a long time ago.

Atlanta started the season just 1-4 thanks to a myriad of injuries to starting players, including middle linebacker Deion Jones, both starting safeties, and eventually to both starting guards, and even running back Devonta Freeman.

The Falcons put up a fight in the middle of the season, winning three straight to get back to .500, but then dropped five more in a row.

They lost at Cleveland, against Dallas, at New Orleans, against Baltimore, and at Green Bay.

But it took until Week 15 for Atlanta to be moved out of the postseason entirely.

The Falcons weren’t alone being bounced out of contention on this Sunday of the NFL’s schedule: the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, and Denver Broncos were all eliminated from postseason contention, as well.

But the Falcons had, and have, far and away the most talented roster of those teams.

That is, if they can stay healthy. This offseason should see the return of their injured players, but now the team has to ensure that their recovery goes well and they avoid re-injury.

Aside from that, the Falcons organization still has a few important decisions to make.

“It hasn’t been to the level that we’ve needed to for a while, not just in the last few weeks,” head coach Dan Quinn said of the team’s performance this year.

“To have some of these inconsistencies show up over an extended period of time has been definitely something that’s been at the front of my mind.”

The Falcons will likely not be making any great changes, considering the general quality of their roster, and will instead look to re-group after the return of their injured starters.

But there will be a wide ranging investigation from top to bottom.

“As we’re going through it, from players to staff to everything, we want to make sure we look at the body of work,” Quinn said.

“And get clear, concise evaluations on everybody. When you’re standing where we’re at, it’s not what you want to do, but that’s part of it and what we’re looking at for sure. If you’re clearly at four wins during this time, then we have not met expectations.”