Super Bowl 2017: 7 winners and losers from Patriots vs. Falcons

The New England Patriots are Super Bowl champions for the fifth time in the last 16 years, toppling the Atlanta Falcons by scoring 31 unanswered points to win, 34-28.

It was the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history and smashed several records. Altogether, 24 records were topped and seven were tied with Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady headlining the list of those rewriting the history books.

The wild finish also changed the fortunes for many on both teams. Some have a brighter future ahead of them after Sunday, while others took a step backward.

Here are seven who have slightly different futures ahead of them after Sunday:

This time a year ago, the talented tight end was an unhappy player on a Chicago Bears team that just finished a 6-10 season. He hadn’t been to the playoffs since the 2009 season when he was with the Dallas Cowboys.

But after a trade, he landed in New England and posted a career-best seven touchdowns. He stepped up in Rob Gronkowski’s absence and caught three touchdowns in the last four weeks of the regular season, and then added five receptions for 62 yards Sunday against the Falcons.

What does this mean for the impending free agent? He knows exactly what it means:

With his 30th birthday coming in March, there isn’t much reason to think Bennett doesn’t still have some good years left in the tank. So, he’s probably right, some team is going to pay big for Super Bowl Marty.

This one doesn’t need much explaining.

Brady already owned a ton of Super Bowl records and somehow managed to rewrite the history books with 466 passing yards on 62 attempts. It was enough to earn him a fourth Super Bowl MVP award, something no other player has ever accomplished.

His legacy wasn’t in question, but it somehow improved anyway and he validated rumors that he could be in line for a contract extension soon.

His stint as the head coach of the Denver Broncos was unsuccessful, but McDaniels revived his coaching career in New England and was thought by many to be a favorite to land one of the top jobs for 2017.

It didn’t end up happening, but McDaniels is more well-positioned than ever after the Patriots’ miraculous comeback.

It’s anyone’s guess which jobs will open up, but McDaniels has continued to bolster his claim as the top coordinator in the league worth pursuing. Who knows? Maybe he’ll even step into Bill Belichick’s shoes if the coach decides to hang it up soon.

The second-year player didn’t finish the season with a ring, but he did etch his name in the history books with Reggie White, Darnell Dockett, and Kony Ealy as the only players ever to record three sacks in a Super Bowl.

It wasn’t exactly a game out of nowhere for Jarrett. The 2015 fifth-round pick worked his way into the starting defensive lineup for Atlanta and had a really solid 2016 campaign. But it was certainly the best game of his young career and he has just four career regular season sacks.

On a defense filled with young, speedy talent, Jarrett has made sure he isn’t forgotten and eventually that should pay off with a nicely sized contract.

The San Francisco 49ers are likely to land Kyle Shanahan as their next head coach, and that sounded a lot cooler for them at about 9 p.m. ET when the Falcons had a sizable lead over the Patriots.

Nothing to inspire hope for the future of the 49ers than the biggest collapse in Super Bowl history and a game plan that saw the No. 1 scoring offense in the NFL manage to convert just one third down.

With 9:40 left in the game and a 16-point lead, Shanahan called a grand total of four running plays against the Patriots.

Of course, the result from Sunday doesn’t have much bearing on Shanahan’s future. Two years ago, Dan Quinn was on the losing end of a heartbreaking, come-from-behind victory for the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, and he hasn’t had trouble turning Atlanta into a winner.

Still, there’s significantly less momentum for Shanahan and the 49ers now.

Yes, Floyd earned a ring Sunday and nobody can take that from him. But with a DUI suspension likely on the horizon, the receiver needed to do big things in his short time with the Patriots to warrant a new contract.

Instead, he was a healthy scratch in the AFC Championship and the Super Bowl, dismissed as a non-factor that wouldn’t be missed by the New England offense.

That doesn’t bode well for the receiver when he hits free agency in March. It’s already tough enough to convince teams to take a chance, despite off-field concerns, and when your stats on the field slip, too, that could be a wrap.

Turning the fortunes of the Falcons franchise around as quickly as Quinn has deserves acclaim, but boy that Tom Brady is a pain in the ass.

Two years ago, Quinn was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks when the Patriots scored 14 unanswered in the fourth quarter to erase a 10-point deficit. The Seahawks offense had a chance to bail him out, but Malcolm Butler ruined that.

Beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl would have been the perfect redemption for Quinn, but instead it was ripped from him once again.

That’s quite the monkey on Quinn’s back.

There’s still plenty of opportunities for things to change. Jarrett’s career could go south, and Floyd’s could turn around.

But for now, there are a lot of Patriots sitting pretty after yet another championship victory for the dominant dynasty, and there are a lot of Falcons back at square one after coming so close to a win.