On Monday night, the Falcons did more than merely eat a "W" against the Buccaneers. By beating the hapless and injury-plagued Bucs 24-21, they ensured they'll enter the final two weeks of the season in a prime playoff position. 

The Falcons are in complete and total control over their destiny and on Monday night, they took advantage of their opportunity to beat a bad football team -- but only just barely.

Matt Ryan passed for 212 yards and a touchdown (he was outplayed by Jameis Winston), and Julio Jones totaled only 54 yards against a team he normally torches. Devonta Freeman, though, ran wild for 126 yards, and Atlanta's defense played good enough. Once again, the Falcons weren't impressive, squandering some scoring opportunities and failing to live up to their full potential. It was an ugly win -- something this team has come to master.

Ryan summed up the Falcons' performance perfectly when a mic caught him screaming "Get f------- set" at a teammate as the team tried to piece together a put-away drive in the fourth quarter. A few plays later, Freeman turned a three-point game into a 10-point game with a perfectly executed, ankle-breaking 32-yard touchdown run.

The Buccaneers made it interesting by responding with their own touchdown, courtesy of Jameis Winston and Adam Humphries.

But the Falcons closed them out. You can't even credit them for not blowing a late lead, though, because they didn't really do much to earn the victory in the final minutes. 

They ended up punting the ball back to the Buccaneers and allowing them to march directly downfield without any timeouts to get off a last-second, 54-yard field goal attempt. And if not for an official tripping as he tried to get the ball set so the Buccaneers could kill the clock, that 54-yard field goal try could've been a bit shorter. But the official did trip, burning a few precious seconds, and the Buccaneers didn't have enough time to get off another offensive play.

And then Patrick Murray missed the long field-goal attempt. And so, the Falcons won. At this point in the season, that's all that matters for a team on the playoff bubble. 

The 2017 version of the Atlanta Falcons might not be a good football team, but they're alive and probably playoff bound. At 9-5, they're ahead of three 8-6 teams -- the Seahawks, Cowboys, and Lions -- all of whom they already beat this season, which means they really hold a two-game lead with two games to play. And with those two games coming against the 10-4 Panthers and 10-4 Saints, they're not totally out of the picture in the NFC South.

And really, that's all that matters right now. The Falcons are not a great football team even though their roster boasts great talent. They're underperforming. That's undeniable. Maybe it's due to a Super Bowl hangover. Maybe it's due to the loss of Kyle Shanahan. There's no way to know for certain.

Regardless of the reason, the Falcons own the same record that they did at this point last season -- a season that ended in overtime of the Super Bowl. Last year, the Falcons went on a four-game winning streak to enter the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in football. If the Falcons manage to beat the Panthers and Saints to close out the year, they'll suddenly look like a legitimate postseason threat.

We've seen nothing to believe that the Falcons will beat teams of the Panthers' and Saints' caliber, but at least they're in a position to redeem themselves. At some point, though, they'll need to prove that they're actually a good team and not a disappointing, inconsistent team that is wasting a ton of talent. We'll find out a lot more about this team from here on out. There are no more easy games remaining on their schedule. And their performance Monday night won't hold up against playoff-caliber teams.

Read on for six takeaways.

1. Bucs are a mess

Entering the season, the Buccaneers -- now 4-10 -- were supposed to challenge the Falcons for the NFC South crown. Instead, their final couple of weeks are nothing more than an opportunity to spoil some seasons and maybe even save some jobs. 

They didn't play well on Monday night. Winston actually pieced together a sensational stat line -- 27 of 35 for 299 yards, three touchdowns, no picks, and a 130.5 passer rating -- and played better than he has pretty much all season long. So don't blame him for the loss.

Injuries and absences played a significant role. The Buccaneers entered the game without running back Doug Martin (inactive for a violation of team rules), linebacker Lavonte David (hamstring), cornerback Vernon Hargreaves (hamstring), and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (biceps). They ended up losing a heck of a lot more players during the game, including receiver DeSean Jackson and rookie tight end O.J. Howard.

The secondary held up fine against Ryan and Jones, but the defense got gouged by the Falcons' ground game. Freeman ran wild. So did Terron Ward, who filled in for the injured Tevin Coleman. Heck, the Buccaneers let Ryan -- not the most mobile quarterback -- rush for 29 yards.

The Buccaneers treated tackling like a foreign concept. 

A cameraman did his best reenactment of the Buccaneers' tackling technique:

The Buccaneers defended the Falcons' first touchdown of the game -- a 6-yard pass from Ryan to Justin Hardy -- with 10 men on the field.

It didn't go well.

Considering how high the Buccaneers' expectations were coming into the year, it's tough to see coach Dirk Koetter surviving this dreadful year. The only way that seemed likely was if the Buccaneers finished the year strong. The Buccaneers had a chance to upset an unimpressive Falcons team, but they fell short.

You could point to Winston's performance and be encouraged, but Winston has always been an inconsistent quarterback who is capable of playing out of his mind before faltering a week later. I'm not sure this game changes much. 

You could point to Howard's touchdown, which tied the game at 7 in the first quarter, as a sign of progress ...

... but then you have to remember that Howard was left wide open by the Falcons. Oh, and he also left the game with an ankle injury.

You can compliment the Buccaneers for finally stopping Jones, but then you have to remember that Ryan missed a deep touchdown bomb to Jones. And while the Buccaneers didn't get torched through the air, they did get annihilated on the ground.

I'm not sure there's any kind of moral victory the Buccaneers can claim from the loss. The Falcons were bad. The Buccaneers were even worse -- with the exception of Winston. And in the process, they got decimated by injuries.

2. Atlanta's ground game gouges Tampa Bay

The Falcons won because they ran the ball all over the Buccaneers. You've already seen the Freeman touchdown run above. In all, he rushed for 126 yards on 22 carries. Ward added 40 yards on eight carries. Ryan managed to pick up 29 yards on three scrambles. Atlanta's team rushing total was 201 yards.

Credit the offensive line. They opened huge holes and Freeman hit the holes hard, like he always does. And once he got to the second level, he challenged the Buccaneers secondary by initiating contact.

Freeman was the game's MVP.

3. Fumble luck

Freeman played well, but he got bailed out when he fumbled at the 1-inch line and into the end zone. The ball didn't roll out of the end zone for a touchback. The ball didn't wind up in the arms of a Buccaneer. The ball went directly to Levine Toilolo, who gave the Falcons a 14-7 lead.

On the ensuing drive, the Falcons spoiled the Buccaneers' red-zone trip by forcing a fumble of Peyton Barber and recovering the loose ball.

Later in the game, Freeman fumbled again and once again, the Falcons recovered the ball. The game could've gone much differently if those fumbles had bounced a different way.

4. Mike Evans briefly shows up

I hope you didn't bench Mike Evans in Fantasy.

Evans has experienced a disappointing season, and it looked like that would continue on Monday night when he racked up two offensive-pass-interference penalties -- one negating a huge touchdown -- but he more than made up for his rough beginning by coming down with an awesome touchdown catch in traffic in the third quarter, which cut the Falcons' lead to three points.

Great job by Winston to elude the pass rush, but this is an even better job by Evans to grab that contested catch over two defenders.

Evans finished with 79 yards and that one touchdown. It wasn't a stellar outing, but it was an improvement from his past two games -- four catches for 58 yards.

Progress!

5. Falcons eliminate the Packers 

As a result of the Falcons' victory, the Packers are now eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since 2008. And now, there's a very real chance that they could sit Aaron Rodgers against the Vikings on Saturday. Before the game on Monday, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said that Rodgers is sore after his first game back in two months and didn't commit to playing him in Week 16.

With Green Bay's season over, don't be surprised if Rodgers sits. There's no point in risking another injury.

6. What's next?

The Buccaneers will get more chances to serve as spoilers. They will finish the year against Panthers and Saints. Those games will help determine the seeding in the NFC. 

The Falcons are in the thick of the playoff race, but getting there won't be easy. They'll finish the year against the Saints and Panthers.

The four teams in the NFC South are going to be seeing a lot of each other in the final two weeks of the season.