Most meetings between the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons over the last eight years or so have had some sort of significance—two contenders jockeying for playoff position, a whole lot of scoring and many intense battles.

But this time, it’s different. The Falcons enter 4-8, the Packers 4-7-1, and both teams are in the unfamiliar position of being out of it with a month left of regular season to go.

A successful stretch

In the wake of the firing of Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, much has been made of Green Bay’s uninterrupted streak of success through most of his coaching tenure. But the Falcons, too, have had some good fortune lately, and since the drafting of Matt Ryan in 2008 have been on what may be the most successful 10-year stretch in franchise history.

In the 42 years before the Falcons drafted Ryan, the best quarterback in the franchise’s history, the team made the playoffs just eight times, and never in consecutive seasons. In those years, the team eclipsed 10 wins just three times, and never once had consecutive seasons with winning records.

From 2008-2017, however, the team made the playoffs six times, including three years in a row (and four out of five from 2008-2012). It has only had two seasons with a losing record in that time (2013 and 2014), and has eclipsed 10 wins six times, appearing in a Super Bowl in the 2016 season during Ryan’s MVP campaign.

Recent rivalry history

Because both the Packers and Falcons have been generally successful over the last decade, they have also met each other quite a few times—nine total, including postseason, since Ryan was drafted in 2008. The results of those games were as follows:

·         2008: Falcons 27, Packers 24 in Green Bay. Rodgers’ and Ryan’s first year as starters in the NFL. Both quarterbacks played well for first-year starters at their position, but Rodgers’ was better to the tune of 25/37 for 313 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT for a 109.4 rating. Roddy White tore up the Packers’ secondary with eight receptions for 132 yards, but it wasn’t enough. The Falcons finished that year 11-5 and went to the postseason for the first time in the Ryan era, while the Packers finished 6-10, just the second losing season for the team since 1992.

·         2010: Falcons 20, Packers 17 in Atlanta. It sure felt like a crushing loss at the time—the Packers were attempting to overcome a slow start, and had already suffered numerous other close losses that season. With the Falcons playing the best football in the conference, this could almost have been considered a “moral victory,” but it just felt like the Packers weren’t quite ready to take on the top seed in the conference just yet. A Matt Bryant field goal with nine seconds left gave Atlanta the victory. Ryan wasn’t able to get the downfield game going, but settled for plenty of underneath balls, completing 24 passes on 28 attempts for 197 yards and 1 TD. Nine receivers caught passes for Atlanta, but only Tony Gonzalez eclipsed 50 yards.

·         2011: Packers 48, Falcons 21 in Atlanta. In what became perhaps the seminal victory of the Packers’ 2010 run to the Super Bowl, the team went into Atlanta as the sixth seed in the conference taking on the 13-3 Falcons coming off a bye, a team that had already beaten them in the same building less than two months earlier. And this was a rout. Rodgers played what arguably still remains the finest football game of his career, completing 31 passes on 36 attempts for 366 yards and three touchdowns for a 136.8 rating and running for another touchdown besides. He eluded defenders in the backfield all game long and completed passes in unthinkably tight windows while on the run. Tramon Williams’ pick-six at the end of the first half blew the game open and is one of the more memorable plays in franchise history.

·         2011: Packers 25, Falcons 14 in Atlanta: In a much-anticipated rematch of the playoff game, the Packers played solid football to take down the falcons in the midst of their long unbeaten stretch to start the season. James Jones starred with 140 yards on five receptions, including a 70-yard touchdown. Both teams went to the playoffs, but both went one-and-done—the Falcons lost their Wild Card matchup to the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants, who went on to take down the 15-1 Packers a week later in Lambeau Field.

·         2013: Packers 22, Falcons 21 in Green Bay: The rivalry had a couple years to simmer at this point, but there was no doubt that Falcons fans were looking forward to finally getting back at the Packers for a couple consecutive humbling losses—especially considering Aaron Rodgers was out with a collarbone injury at the time. But Matt Flynn did just enough to help keep the Packers afloat, and the team’s defense stepped up in a big way, holding Ryan to just 206 yards and two touchdowns, as Julio Jones also missed the game.

·         2014: Packers 43, Falcons 37 in Green Bay: The fourth-consecutive loss for the Falcons in this series was a wild one. The Packers scored 24 points in the second quarter and had a 34-17 lead going into the fourth, but surrendered 20 points in the fourth quarter and very nearly let the Falcons pull off the improbable comeback. Both quarterbacks put up gaudy numbers, but the real star of the game was Julio Jones, who had 11 catches for 259 yards and a touchdown.  But Jordy Nelson had 8 for 146 and two touchdowns of his own, including a 60 yard bomb, and the backfield combination of Eddie Lacy and James Starks rushed 23 times for 148 yards to keep the clock under control. This was the last time the Packers beat the Falcons, and the last time the teams met in Green Bay.

·         2016: Falcons 33, Packers 32 in Atlanta: Another wild matchup, the Packers and Falcons came in at 4-3 and 5-3, respectively, in need of a win to keep pace in their divisions. Yet again both quarterbacks had solid days passing the football, but this time the Packers kept Julio Jones in check to the tune of just three catches for 29 yards. Mohamed Sanu stepped up to give the Falcons the juice they needed in the passing game. Davante Adams caught 12 balls for just 74 yards. It was a back and forth game, but ultimately the Falcons won on a Sanu touchdown with about 30 seconds to go.

·         2017: Falcons 44, Packers 21 in Atlanta: This NFC Conference Championship game was for the Falcons what the 2011 playoff game was for the Packers—an absolute drubbing en route to a Super Bowl appearance. The Packers’ “Run the Table” mojo finally ran out, as the team was outscored 24-0 in the first half and was never really in the game. Julio Jones was unstoppable, catching nine balls for 180 yards and two touchdowns while the Packers were forced to use practice squad-caliber cornerbacks to guard him.

·         2017: Falcons 34, Packers 23 in Atlanta: A tough game for the Packers, who were looking for revenge after the embarrassing loss in the conference championship the year prior. But once again, the Packers let a bad first half put them out of it. After a 7-7 first quarter, the Packers collapsed in the second, giving up 17 points and never really recovering. Julio Jones once again went over 100 yards and the Packers were never really able to get it going, especially on the ground.

Where we stand now

So what exactly has happened to these teams? Why are the Falcons, who were in the Super Bowl two years ago and won a playoff game last year, suddenly so poor on offense? The same question goes for the Packers—what has caused a team with an all-timer at quarterback to become so predictable and mediocre on a side of the ball where they have traditionally excelled?

This is the first time since Rodgers and Ryan became the starters that these two teams are playing a meaningless football game. We’ll see on Sunday whether this underrated rivalry still has any teeth to it, but with both teams playing for pride and with a lot of questions hanging over each sideline, it’s hard to predict what we’re going to see.

While it’s extremely unlikely the Falcons will make a change at head coach this offseason like the Packers have already done, one has to think there are going to be some significant overhauls to the offensive staff. For a team with one of the best players in the game today at receiver and a quarterback who won a near-unanimous MVP award just a couple years ago, it’s been a fast and unexpected fall. Much like Packer fans, Falcon fans had to be expecting something way different out of the 2018 season than what they've gotten.

Both of these teams have pieces in place that should allow them to recover fairly quickly and get back to playing meaningful football. But for now, these two frequent NFC contenders find themselves in a very unusual position—staring up at the rest of their conference in December without a prayer at a postseason shot.