24-2. 

The sheer ugliness of the score horrifically points out the fact that all the Falcons could muster in a must-win playoff game was a measly safety. 

So the "more explosive offense" the front office decided was necessary following last year's humiliation to Green Bay couldn't even score a point in the game that mattered most this season.  The 2 points represent a franchise-playoff record-low. 

If you're counting at home, that makes 3 playoff games in the Mike Smith-Matt Ryan era in Atlanta.  Total wins ... zero. 

Total times Ryan has exceeded (not 300) but 200 yards passing in those three playoff starts ... zero. 

Which simply means this ... if the Falcons don't win at least one playoff game next year, the team that has been the most successful over a four-year stint in the 46 years of the franchise will be blown up.  It's that simple. 

Do you really believe Arthur Blank will continue to spend hundreds of millions on a team that's good enough to be better than average but not great? 

Records indicate the Falcons were one of 20 teams to spend over $100 million in player salaries this season.  Blank is not spending that money to see an offense fail to score in the season's most important game. 

Mike Smith has guided this franchise to four consecutive winning seasons.  Before he arrived in 2008, it had never even had back-to-back campaigns over .500.  But even he knows the buck stops with him.  As good a coach as he's proven to be, if there are no playoff wins next January, he could find himself out of a job.  Which is one reason he's set to roll up his sleeves as soon as possible. 

"We played some plays good and some not-so good, and that's really the story of our 2011 season, " said Smith who also noted, "there are 20 other teams that would have traded places with us before this day started, but it's not good enough just to make the playoffs."

Kudos to the current brass and coaching staff and roster for changing the culture to one where success is expected, not an option. 

But as they're all finding out ... changing the losses to playoff wins is even more difficult than changing a culture. 

Let's hope next year the Falcons locker room experiences a different feeling than it has three of the last four years following its playoff game. 

Or else change will be on the horizon, and it won't be the type of change the players and coaches now in place want to see.