But despite their squad's 27-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's NFC Championship game, the thousands of Falcons fans who crammed into sports bars or perched in front of their own televisions to watch were able to find joy and hope alongside the pain.
From Loco's Deli on the northside of town to the string of restaurants lining Brown's Bridge Road and Dawsonville Highway, many of the Falcon faithful gathered in Gainesville to watch the big game.
"They surpassed everybody's expectations and they've really set the groundwork for the future," said Ken Keen, a fan since the franchise began in 1966 who donned a Falcons cap and jersey at Bench Warmers Sports Grill in Atlanta.
Keen was one of about 700 Falcons fans who jammed the bar to watch the game on more than 25 television sets.
The crowd roared when the Falcons did well _ such as a touchdown scamper by Warrick Dunn _ and jeered the referees long distance for perceived bad calls.
Down the road at Famous Pub and Sports Palace, the mood turned somber as the odds of a Falcons win grew slimmer. When the Eagles scored their final touchdown with 3:21 remaining, many quietly headed for the door or paid their bar tabs, as a noisy table full of Philadelphia fans chanted "E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!"
Picked by some analysts to finish third, or even fourth, in the four-team NFC South this season, the Falcons surprised nearly everyone by posting an 11-5 regular season record, the second-best in the NFC, and walloping the St. Louis Rams 47-17 in last week's divisional playoff.
The result was a statewide rash of Falcons Fever not seen since the team's last unlikely surge, in 1998, landed them in the Super Bowl.
Throughout Georgia, sports bars brought in extra staff and stocked up on extra food and drinks in preparation for huge crowds.
At Coach's Corner in Thunderbolt, just east of Savannah, a capacity crowd of about 300 people had already packed the bar by 1 p.m. _ two hours before kickoff.
Owner Al Henderson said he doubled the usual size of his staff for the game.
Like their colleagues throughout Georgia, die-hard Falcons fans at Henderson's bar are a long-suffering lot.
In their 39-year existence, the Falcons have posted only 11 winning seasons. They've never finished above .500 in back-to-back years and won their division for just the third time this year.
But with a supportive owner in Arthur Blank Jr., a young, aggressive head coach in Jim Mora and arguably the game's most exciting player in quarterback Michael Vick, the Falcon faithful finally have cause for optimism not just for this year, but for years to come.
"This was going to be a year to try to earn some respect, and they've gone way above that," Henderson said. "Under a first year coach and a new offense, you don't ever expect a Super Bowl out of them."
The excitement remained undimmed for Falcon fans like Chad Smith, of Decatur, who donned a Vick jersey at the corner of the bar at Famous Pub.
"They really overachieved this year," Smith said as the game wound down. "Today's disappointing, but we've got a lot to look forward to."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/1/142295