Bill Belichick has seemingly been the favorite to land the Atlanta Falcons head coaching gig ever since he and the New England Patriots parted ways. With Jim Harbaugh not in the conversation anymore after accepting the Los Angeles Chargers job, Belichick's chances of heading to Atlanta would have likely increased. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, that may not be the case, via Miles Garrett of FOX 5 Atlanta.

Will Falcons hire Bill Belichick?

The social media football world is epically reacting to former Patriots coach Bill Belichick's interview with the Falcons.

“We're in a situation right now where the only team that has an opening and the only one of the eight that had a vacancy during this firing cycle that interviewed Bill Belichick was the Atlanta Falcons,” Schefter said on ESPN. “And they interviewed him for a second time last Friday in person, and since then the Falcons have paraded through a series of candidates for second interviews and other interviews and scheduled more and more talks with other candidates.”

So are the Falcons still interested in Belichick? In all reality, Atlanta is likely still seriously considering him for the position. However, the Falcons' desire to interview a number of other candidates has led to uncertainty about Belichick's chances of ending up in Atlanta.

“That doesn't sound like a team that's ready to make a move on Bill Belichick,” Schefter continued. “Now coaching hiring cycles, they move in funny patterns sometimes. Sometimes a team starts out on a guy, cools, and comes back to him…. Well, in this particular case, the Falcons have shown they are interested in a lot of people. In their own words, they described to me over the weekend that their coaching search after they met with Belichick for a second time is ‘wide open.' So if it's wide open after you met with Bill Belichick twice, that certainly tells you that he's not the favorite for the job.”

Schefter also mentioned that there is a “possibility” that Bill Belichick will not be a head coach in the NFL during the 2024 season if he does not end up with the Falcons. He reportedly has not interviewed with the other teams still looking for a head coach.

An NFL without Bill Belichick would be strange. He's a legendary head coach who found no shortage of success with the Patriots.

Still, he remains a candidate for the Falcons. This will be a situation worth closely monitoring over the next few weeks as Atlanta prepares to make their decision.