The Atlanta Falcons were defeated on Sunday afternoon at home by a strong Chicago Bears team who entered the season as one of the top contenders in the NFC by a score of 31-23.

While it is not a shocking loss by any means and there is plenty of blame to go around, one main talking point this week will be the shocking admission by head coach Kevin Stefanski after the game regarding what Atlanta had to do on offense when it came to the snap count. In their home building, the Falcons were using a silent count because the tens of thousands of Bears fans were making more noise.

Stefanski was not calling out the fanbase or anything close to it, however it is a damning reveal on the state of things, and the organization has no one but themselves to blame.

"We love our fans. Our fans are so supportive. We knew we likely would have to be on a silent count," Stefanski said when asked if he was frustrated with that reality, taking great care not to express any sort of ill will towards the fans after Chicago largely dominated the crowd noise in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

While this may be tough to stomach, Atlanta simply has no one else to blame but themselves for this becoming the reality while hosting a team with a huge fanbase like the Bears. The Falcons have put a losing product on the field for a decade straight, the traffic and parking situation is among the worst in football, and this year specifically, Atlanta has been absolutely dreadful at home.

Why should fans spend their hard-earned money and time to come out and watch this team right now? Why should they financially support a franchise which has given them so little to cheer about in recent years?

It's not fair to ask fans to continue to create a home field advantage for a team who has not earned it right now. By the way he addressed the question, it sounds like Stefanski knows that better than anyone and is not blaming the fanbase.

He is here to change this team's culture, and clearly Stefanski knows it is going to be a work in progress. The Falcons need to keep taking steps this year towards improvement, and when the team is a winner, the fans will of course be back.

Right now though, they have taken fans for granted, and this is showing with the crowd mix week in and week out in their home stadium.