the 1985 Bears defense could match). However, due to the team's lackluster offense (which averaged less than 13 points per game), the Falcons finished with a 7–7 record. 1978 Led by a strong defense, the team finished the 1978 season with a 9–7 record, qualifying for the postseason for the first time in franchise history. The season featured several dramatic comebacks, including two victories over rival New Orleans by identical 20-17 scores. In the playoffs, they met a team that didn't make the playoffs in a number of years, the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite falling behind 13–0, the Bartkowski-led Falcons came back to take a 14–13 lead, which held up after a chip-shot Eagles FG attempt sailed wide right with seconds remaining. Their next encounter would be with the heavily favored Dallas Cowboys. Despite knocking out Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach and taking a 20–13 lead into halftime, the offense would only collect 85 net yards in the second half as the Cowboys, led by backup QB Danny White, came back and won 27–20. White would come back to haunt the Falcons yet again two years later. 1979 The Falcons were unable to carry the previous year's momentum into 1979, though, finishing 6-10. Records were broken for the season by William Andrews with 1,023 rushing yards, by Wallace Francis with 74 catches for 1,013 receiving yards, and by Steve Bartkowski with 2,502 passing yards (203 completions out of 379 attempts). 1980s 1980 was a highly successful season for the Falcons, as they finished 12–4. While the season started at 3–3, Atlanta went on to record an amazing 9-game winning streak. Bartkowski threw for three touchdowns on December 14 as the Falcons defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 35–10 to win their first-ever NFC West division title. In the Divisional Playoffs, the Falcons lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 30–27, as the Cowboys rallied for 20 points in Atlanta before a then-record crowd of 59,793, including a game-winning touchdown pass from Danny White to Drew Pearson with less than a minute to play. This loss is widely cited as one of the most devastating losses in Atlanta sports history (even more so than the Super Bowl loss to Denver in 1998), as many fans and the team itself took almost a decade to recover. The 1981 season was plagued with injuries as the Falcons lost 3 key starters for the season. The Falcons