The 1976 Atlanta Falcons season was the franchise's 11th year in the National Football League (NFL). The season saw the Falcons attempting to improve on their 4–10 record from 1975. However, they were only able to match the record, as they finished the 1976 season at 4–10 and missed the playoffs for the 11th straight season. After a 1–4 start to the season, head coach Marion Campbell was fired by general manager Pat Peppler, who himself would close out the season as the interim head coach and finish the season with a 3–6 record. The Falcons also suffered the ignominy of being the only established NFL team to lose to one of the league's two expansion teams when they lost 30–13 to the Seattle Seahawks on November 7.

For the season, the Falcons converted from gray facemasks to white facemasks.

Offseason

1976 expansion draft

+ Atlanta Falcons selected during the expansion draft Round Overall Name Position Expansion team00Nick BeboutOffensive tackleSeattle Seahawks00Don HansenLinebackerSeattle Seahawks00Vince KendrickRunning backTampa Bay Buccaneers

Draft

Undrafted free agents + 1976 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeAngelo WellsDefensive endMorgan State

Personnel

Staff / Coaches

Roster

Regular season

Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 12 Los Angeles Rams L 14–30 0–1 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 53,607 2 September 19 at Detroit Lions L 10–24 0–2 Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium 50,840 3 September 26 at Chicago Bears W 10–0 1–2 Soldier Field 41,029 4 October 3 Philadelphia Eagles L 13–14 1–3 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 45,535 5 October 10 at New Orleans Saints L 0–30 1–4 Louisiana Superdome 51,521 6 October 17 Cleveland Browns L 17–20 1–5 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 33,364 7 October 23 at San Francisco 49ers L 0–15 1–6 Candlestick Park 50,240 8 October 31 New Orleans Saints W 23–20 2–6 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 34,127 9 November 7 at Seattle Seahawks L 13–30 2–7 Kingdome 57,985 10 November 14 San Francisco 49ers W 21–16 3–7 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 20,058 11 November 21 Dallas Cowboys W 17–10 4–7 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 54,992 12 November 28 at Houston Oilers L 14–20 4–8 Astrodome 25,838 13 December 4 at Los Angeles Rams L 0–59 4–9 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 57,366 14 Green Bay Packers L 20–24 4–10 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 23,436 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

Season summary

Week 2 at Lions

References

External links 1976 Atlanta Falcons at Pro-Football-Reference.com